Health NGOs representatives emphasized the need to concrete action to raise awareness regarding the importance of vaccinations to confront the Corona pandemic. In that regard, pressuring the Israeli occupation authority to fulfill its obligations as an occupying power according to Fourth Geneva Convention to provide COVID vaccines for Palestinians without discrimination.
This came during a Zoom workshop entitled “Vaccinations and their importance in facing Covid-19” to discuss vaccination developments. The meeting was organized by PNGO's health sector, where the Gaza Ministry of Health representatives attended along with the UN Health Cluster and the health sector with other Palestinian organizations representatives.
Amjad Al-Shawa, PNGO director, opened the workshop by stressing the need to strengthen the health system and infrastructure to control the pandemic and its repercussions.
He praised the efforts of the health sector in facing the pandemic noting that medical workers are exerting tremendous effort to improve Palestinians’ situation.
Also, Al-Shawa asserted the significance of coordinating efforts between the various parties to limit the spread of the virus, especially by providing vaccinations and guaranteeing them for all eligible groups.
In his paper, Dr. Abdelnaser Soboh, Health Cluster coordinator, expressed that COVID vaccines are of utmost importance to control diseases and reduce deaths, especially among the elderly and people with chronic diseases.
All vaccinations arrived in the Gaza Strip are safe and have passed clinical trial phases, according to Soboh.
Everyone, especially civil society organizations, he urged, is responsible to spread awareness to encourage the most vulnerable groups to take vaccinations to protect the elderly and those who suffer from diseases.
Dr. Majdy Dhair, Preventive Medicine Department director at the Ministry of Health, indicated that the Ministry is ready to deal with vaccinations e-platform to enable citizens to register for vaccines. The department is willing to work with all vaccination centers across the Strip and train medical staff to deal with the platform so that citizens' data are entered, checked and made sure of their readiness to receive the vaccine.
Dhair confirmed that there are 17 centers in the Gaza Strip available to give vaccinations to citizens, as more than 110,000 doses have been received since February ranging in type from Sputnik, Pfizer, and Astrazeneca.
The Ministry is advising health personnel, doctors of chronic disease clinics, and patients to get vaccinated, Dhair said while stressing that the vaccine is available in primary care centers and UNRWA clinics for those over 40 years old.
For his part, Dr. Bassam Zaqout, Acting Director of Medical Relief in the Gaza Strip, stressed the need to raise community awareness of the importance of vaccines and address campaigns and information issued by social media.
Rejecting vaccination due to false social media information could bear negative outcomes, Zaqout said.
Zaqout favored the necessity of continuing community awareness efforts, information sharing, lobbying, and advocacy at the international level, holding the Israeli occupation full responsibility for the late arrival of these vaccines to the Palestinian people.
At the end of the workshop, Qusai Abu Odeh, session moderator, and Gaza Mental Health Program external relations officer highlighted the seriousness of civil society organizations' participation in ending discrimination and lifting all restrictions imposed by Israelis to hinder the Palestinian vaccination process in light of already deteriorating health sector in Gaza.
Finally, the participants also expressed their will to contribute to raising awareness about the importance of vaccinations and refuting rumors.