Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq is calling on the Pfizer pharmaceutical company to ensure that its COVID-19 vaccine is being used and distributed without discrimination, expressing concerns that Israel is using the company’s vaccine “to further entrench” injustices against Palestinians living under occupation.
In 1991, Israel was forced to provide gas masks to Palestinians during the Gulf War. Some are saying this is a precedent for distributing COVID-19 vaccines today.
The extended family of Asmaa Tayeh, operations manager for We Are Not Numbers, is increasingly typical of residents there. Twenty-five members of the clan have tested positive for the virus, 15 have fallen ill and three have died.
Israeli authorities are failing to provide essential information on the vaccine in Arabic, to establish vaccine centers in Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, and to provide sufficient vaccines in Bedouin clinics in the Negev. These failures are “not a coincidence”, rights groups say.
Rights groups have accused Israel of discriminating against its Palestinian communities by failing to provide accurate information regarding COVID-19 and the vaccine in Arabic.
While Israel will have vaccinated two million by the end of January, Palestinians are not part of the distribution plan.
Below the headlines celebrating Israel’s vaccination rates lies a far darker story about health inequality.
The rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine perfectly illustrates Israel’s apartheid system. While Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza will not receive vaccines from the Israeli government, the hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers living illegally in the West Bank are getting vaccinated every day.