Palestinians expect to get Russian COVID-19 vaccine 'within days'

FILE PHOTO: Empty vials of the Sputnik V (Gam-COVID-Vac) vaccine are pictured at the San Martin hospital, in La Plata, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina January 18, 2021. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - The Palestinian Authority could receive Russia's main COVID-19 vaccine, known as Sputnik V, within days, a PA official said on Tuesday.

The PA health ministry last week issued "emergency approval" for administering Sputnik in areas of the occupied West Bank where the Palestinians exercise limited self-rule.

An Israeli official said earlier that a first batch of 5,000 units of the vaccine could arrive in the West Bank on Tuesday.

Hussein Al-Sheikh, PA minister for civil affairs, told Reuters the delivery would not take place on Tuesday, but added he expected it to happen "within days".

(Writing by Ali Sawafta and Dan Williams; Editing by Tom Hogue and Andrew Heavens)