COVAX and Vaccinating Palestinian Refugees
Beirut and Beyond Contributor: Micala Khavari
Israel’s vaccine rollout has been one of the most efficient in the world. By the end of April 2021, 55% of Israelis had been fully vaccinated. In a world that's desperately trying to climb back from Covid-19—such rates seem like a vision for hope. This image of Israel as a leader, in meeting a healthy future post-pandemic is shadowed by the Palestinian experience. The West Bank and Gaza present a terrible juxtaposition against Israel’s supposed triumph, as only 3.6% of Palestinians have received one dose of a vaccine [1]. Although Israel has vaccinated some 110,000 Palestinian day laborers and is under continued calls for the state to comply under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel still refuses. Even as Israel ships its “excess” vaccines to countries that have supported them in the past [2], they refuse to take responsibility for occupied Palestine.
Israel’s refusal to do so is also becoming increasingly non-sensical as health officials in Israel urge leaders to vaccinate Palestinian territories. While Israel's strategy to protect the community that's only in Israel seems to make sense at a glance, that's only half the story. Globally, Covid variants are rising, including in the West Bank and Gaza [3]. This also means the more time variants and mutations arise amongst a population, the higher the chance for a partially or fully immune vaccine variant could arise and set back Israeli's vaccine project.
How are Palestinians Getting Vaccinated Then?
Alright, so Israel has donated a small number of vaccines, along with Russia, China, and the United Arab Emirates. Most vaccines, though, will come from what Palestinian authorities order and COVAX vaccines. COVAX is the United Nation's plan to create an equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in countries that don't have financial access to vaccines. Still, the COVAX distribution will only cover 20 prevent of the population—at best a third of what heard immunity for COVID-19 is estimated to be [4].
What further frustrates matters is the mystery of how many vaccines without COVAX will be ordered or given in the future. Already, Palestinian authorities have been accused of dispersing vaccines to themselves and family members first over health workers [5]. This puts up just one more psychological barrier for Palestinians to get the vaccine as mistrust and misinformation run rampant. In terms of future donations from other countries, I’m not a fortune teller, so will countries repeat donations or will say…the U.S. donate? So far, looks like a no, especially on the U.S.’ side. While Biden reinstated the money, the U.S. contributes to UNRWA—the UN agency that assists Palestinian refugees—to pre-Trump levels, it seems like the U.S. isn't willing to donate any vaccines. Particularly because toward the end of March, the U.S. donated $15m to Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip to combat the effects of the pandemic. Still, after distributing the donated vaccines and the COVAX vaccines a recent report by the World Bank concluded that Palestinians will need "more financial and logistical" help to cover more than 60% of the population [6].
Palestinians in Lebanon and Jordan
March 24th marked the first round of COVAX vaccines sent to Lebanon, the second was sent in April, totaling 292,800 doses, which is meant to reach most 20% of the population. Will those doses reach the Palestinian population in Lebanon though? UNRWA stated in a January article that they “will coordinate closely with COVAX and work to ensure that Palestine refugees receive an equitable share of vaccinations and advocate for no Palestine refugee to be left behind.” [7] However, that was in the context of occupied Palestine, not the Palestinian refugees in URWA camps in Lebanon or Jordan. Before the Pandemic, Palestinians already fared poorly in Lebanon; treated as second-class citizens, Palestinians are barred from working in most fields, from owning property, and forced to live in the URWA camps that are poorly structured in a multiplicity of ways. Now, as Lebanon reels from last August’s blast, political and economic disarray, the likelihood of COVAX (or any other) vaccines being equally distributed to Palestinians is nearly non-existent. The negotiation—if there is one—between UNRWA, COVAX and Lebanon are also pretty oblique, it's unclear whether COVAX could specify that Lebanon shares some doses with URWA for the Lebanese Palestinian camps. Or, if UNRWA will have to rely on donations to vaccinate Lebanese Palestinians. Like Israel, it would be in Lebanon’s best interest to protect the totality of their population as best they can but considering the length Lebanon has gone in the past to isolate the Palestinian population, it seems unlikely. This is particularly worrisome as Lebanon enacts its third shutdown during the pandemic and health officials report nearly 1,500 new Covid cases overnight [8].
The situation for Palestinians in Jordan is much better, historically and as Jordan continues its vaccination campaign. In mid-January, as the rollout commenced, Jordan announced that anyone living in the country, including refugee and asylum seekers, can have access to the vaccine [9]. Historically, Jordan has been supportive of Palestinians; many of them in Jordan have been naturalized, and towards the end of April, Jordan supported a Palestinian claim on homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood [10]. While the vaccine will help provide some physical security for Palestinians, the exacerbated inequalities that Palestinians are forced to face will not be so quickly fixed. Many countries' economies contracted due to the pandemic, taking away millions of jobs. Not to mention the trauma and mental health issues that refugees could face from the pandemic.
Micala Khavari has been Beirut and Beyond's intern since May 2020. She is an International Studies Major at the University of Denver with minors in Writing Practices and Religious Studies. She has a heart for the Middle East, immigration, and talking your ear off about both! She also makes the weekly Friday Facts posts for Beirut and Beyond and looks forward to being B&B's intern as long she can.
Sources: [1] https://github.com/owid/covid-19-data/blob/master/public/data/vaccinations/country_data/Palestine.csv
[4] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/24/health/herd-immunity-covid-coronavirus.html
[6] https://www.bbc.com/news/55800921
[8] https://www.arabnews.com/node/1850931/middle-east
[9] https://www.unhcr.org/news/press/2021/1/5ffffe614/refugees-receive-covid-19-vaccinations-jordan.html