Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
The Gaza Health Ministry has held the illegal Zionist entity responsible for the expiry of 50,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine recently delivered to the besieged coastal enclave.
In a statement carried by Arab48 news website on Monday night, the ministry said the vaccines had been kept in inappropriate conditions and Israeli authorities had prevented the consignment from reaching Gaza in time.
The vaccines – of Russia’s single-dose Sputnik Light type – had entered Gaza through the Karem Abu Salem crossing, but safety tests showed they had all expired, the statement read.
According to latest figures, 147,368 Palestinians have been infected with COVID-19 in Gaza and 1,228 people have died.
Only around 354,000 people have so far been vaccinated in Gaza, home to some 2 million Palestinians.
The Zionist regime has failed to fulfill its obligation to provide COVID-19 vaccines to the Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank and the blockaded Gaza Strip.
The regime, however, has fully vaccinated the majority of its adult population and is currently offering booster shots to people above 12 years of age.
