Israel to vaccinate Palestinian labourers

Israel has announced plans to vaccinate tens of thousands of Palestinians who work inside Israel and its West Bank settlements.

It comes at a time of vast disparities in access to vaccines between the Israeli and Palestinian populations.

Israel has launched one of the world's most successful vaccination programs, inoculating over half of its population in just two months.

But it has come under international criticism for not sharing its vaccine stockpile with the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, even as it plans to share surplus vaccines with far-flung allies in Africa, Europe and Latin America.

The Israeli government on Sunday approved the program for Palestinian workers to "maintain public health and the functioning of the economy", said COGAT, the Israeli defence body responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs.

It said the program is expected to begin in the coming days, and the vaccines would be administered by Israeli medical teams at checkpoints and industrial zones across the West Bank.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has moved aggressively to vaccinate Israel's population, securing deals with drug makers Pfizer and Moderna to ensure enough supplies for Israel's 9.3 million people.

He expects to have the vast majority of the adult population vaccinated by the end of March.

But before Sunday's announcement, Israel has shared just 2000 vaccines with the Palestinian Authority to protect front-line medical workers in the West Bank.

The gap between Israel and the Palestinians has illustrated the global inequity between rich and poor nations in terms of access to vaccines.