Gaza Receives COVID Vaccines from UAE

Arab World

February 21st, 4:45pm

Asharq Al-Awsat

A Palestinian health worker shows a box of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine sent by United Arab Emirates, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, at Rafah crossing in the southern Gaza Strip February 21, 2021. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Gaza received 20,000 doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine from the United Arab Emirates on Sunday. Gaza health officials said they would begin vaccination on Monday, with priority for medical workers and those with chronic diseases. Many patients were contacted in advance and asked to give their consent. "The shipment is a generous offer from the brotherly UAE," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' rival, Mohammad Dahlan, said on Facebook. "We promise our people that we will exert every possible effort to secure more." Gaza received its first 2,000 doses of Sputnik V on Wednesday, sent by Abbas's government after Israel approved the transfer through its border with the territory, which is controlled by Hamas. Gaza, an impoverished enclave of two million people, has registered more than 54,000 cases with 543 deaths.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2819441/gaza-receives-covid-vaccines-uae