RAMALLAH, Monday, January 11, 2021 (WAFA) – Minister of Health Mai Alkaila announced today that the Ministry of Health has approved the Russian coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, for emergency use, making Palestine the first country in the Middle East to register the vaccine.

She said in a statement that the Ministry of Health has contracted four companies to supply the vaccine, including the Russian company, explaining that the vaccine will be given as soon as it arrives to the health staff, then the sick and the elderly, until about 70% of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are vaccinated.

While Palestine is the first country in the Middle East to register the Sputnik vaccine, Argentina, Bolivia, Serbia and Algeria had already registered it.

K.T./T.R.