The Palestinian Authority’s hasty decision on Friday to cancel the initial Pfizer vaccine-exchange deal with Israel came shortly after a public outcry, particularly on social media, over the expiration date of the doses.
The strong reactions of the Palestinian public prompted PA Health Minister Mai Alkaila and the PA government’s spokesman, Ibrahim Milhem, to hold an urgent press conference to explain the circumstances surrounding the “vaccine scandal.”
The deal has been canceled, the PA officials announced, adding that the 90,000 doses the PA received earlier in the day would be returned to Israel. The PA was not aware that the vaccines would expire soon, they said.
Hussein al-Sheikh, head of the PA General Authority of Civil Affairs, which serves as a liaison between the Palestinians and Israel, distanced himself from the deal. Responding to claims that he was behind the deal with Israel, Sheikh wrote on Twitter: “Some media outlets have circulated false news on the vaccine from Israel. The Civil Affairs has nothing to do with this file, and it is not within its responsibilities.”
On Sunday, the PA Health Ministry spoke about revising the deal. But many Palestinians continued to call for the formation of an independent commission of inquiry to look into the fiasco surrounding the vaccine agreement. The “scandal” was yet another sign of rampant corruption and lack of transparency and accountability in the PA, they said.
As far as the PA leadership is concerned, the blunder could not have come at a worse time.
Just last week, a public opinion poll conducted by the Ramallah-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research showed that support for the PA’s main rival, Hamas, has increased dramatically since the last war between the Gaza-based terrorist group and Israel. The poll also showed that 84% of the Palestinians believe there is corruption in PA institutions.
Judging from the reactions of many Palestinians to the Pfizer vaccine-exchange agreement, they seem convinced that corrupt senior PA officials were in collusion with the Israeli authorities to provide out-of-date vaccines to the Palestinian public.
It was hard to find one Palestinian who came out in defense of the PA or who believes the explanations offered by the PA Health Ministry.
The PA leadership, for its part, cannot afford to be seen by its people and other Arabs as being complicit in a plot to inject Palestinians with invalid vaccines.
This was the second vaccine-related “scandal” to hit the PA since the beginning of 2021. Last March, a similar public outcry erupted after Palestinians learned that the PA had diverted some COVID-19 vaccines to senior Palestinian officials, journalists and personalities affiliated with the PA.
The PA has also faced widespread criticism from many Palestinians over its handling of the vaccine distribution in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. After the March “scandal,” several Palestinian civil-society organizations called for the establishment of a committee of inquiry into the distribution of vaccines.
“Incoming information and testimonies indicate that there are still many [personalities] receiving the vaccine in disregard of the principle of distribution priorities, which includes medical personnel, the elderly and patients,” the organizations said in a joint statement. They also accused the PA of “neglecting the principles of transparency regarding the coronavirus vaccination, which generated a fertile soil for favoritism and ignores the public interest.”
Since then, however, the PA has clearly ignored the criticism, especially regarding the need for transparency concerning the vaccination of Palestinians.
One reason many Palestinians have been outraged over the past 48 hours is because they first learned about the Pfizer vaccine-exchange deal from the Israeli media. Israeli media outlets have long been serving as a main source of information for the Palestinians about what is happening in the PA.
The PA has long been facing criticism from many Palestinians not only because of corruption, but also over its continued security coordination with Israel in the West Bank. During last month’s Israel-Hamas war, the PA also came under attack by many Palestinians for failing to make a serious effort to help the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
And more recently, PA President Mahmoud Abbas faced widespread criticism for his decision to call off the Palestinian parliamentary and presidential elections, which were supposed to take place on May 22 and July 31, respectively.
The vaccine agreement with Israel was supposed to boost the PA’s already tarnished reputation and show that it is doing its utmost to provide the doses to the Palestinians.
The PA was hoping that the vaccines would reduce the number of coronavirus infections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, help the Palestinians return to normal life and improve the Palestinian economy, thus bolstering the standing of Abbas and the PA leadership in the eyes of the public.
But the botched deal has turned out to be one of the worst PR disasters for the PA, whose leaders are currently working to limit the damage and prevent their critics and political rivals from cashing in on the “scandal.”