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RAMAT GAN, ISRAEL (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received an injection of Covid-19 vaccine on Saturday (December 19), kicking off a nationwide deployment in the coming days.
Netanyahu, 71, and Israel’s health minister were injected with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine live on television at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv.
“I asked to be vaccinated first, together with Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, to serve as a personal example and encourage them to get vaccinated,” Netanyahu told the television audience.
Each recipient should receive a booster shot within three weeks for optimal protection against the new coronavirus.
US Vice President Mike Pence took the hit live on television on Friday, while President-elect Joe Biden will take his hit Monday.
President Donald Trump has made it clear that he does not plan to get vaccinated imminently, citing the belief that his recovery from a brief but severe episode of Covid-19 has given him immunity.
The latest figures from the Israeli health ministry reported that more than 370,000 people had tested positive for the virus since the Jewish state confirmed its first case in February.
Just over 3,000 people have died, in a country of around nine million.
The vaccine will be launched in 10 hospitals and vaccination centers across Israel for healthcare workers starting Sunday, according to the Health Ministry.
During the course of the week, a ministry statement said, the vaccines will be rolled out to the general public, starting with those over 60.
Netanyahu quarantine
Netanyahu spent Monday through Friday in self-isolation after coming into contact with a confirmed coronavirus patient, despite testing negative for the virus on Sunday and again on Monday.
Ten days ago he was at the Ben Gurion airport in Israel to receive a first batch of vaccine.
The shipment was the first of eight million doses that Israel ordered from the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its partner BioNTech.
It must be stored at an ultra-low temperature of -70 degrees C, which poses handling and storage challenges.
Other countries have already started implementing the vaccine.
Britain began inoculating its citizens with the same vaccine on December 8.
It has since been approved by the United States, Canada and, on Saturday, Switzerland.
Israel has also pledged to buy six million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from the American biotech firm Moderna, which are expected to be delivered in 2021, giving a total of 14 million injections.
The country imposed a second nationwide lockdown in September, when the country had one of the highest per capita infection rates in the world.
Since then, restrictions have been gradually eased, but infection rates are increasing again.
Netanyahu said that receiving the vaccine was a first step toward returning to normalcy.
“On the way here I thought of children worried about their parents, grandchildren who want to hug Grandma and Grandpa, not a hug from Zoom, but a real hug,” he said.
“We will be able to go to soccer fields, watch basketball games and, of course, reopen the country and return it to what it was, return to the normal life that we want.”
The Palestinian territories have also seen an increase in Covid-19 cases in recent weeks. On Thursday, the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority announced tougher restrictions, including closing schools and universities, for two weeks to combat the spread of the virus.
Last week, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced that the Christmas mass in Bethlehem, where Christians believe Jesus was born, would be closed to the public this year due to the pandemic.
The Israeli-occupied West Bank, with a Palestinian population of more than 2.8 million, has officially recorded more than 88,000 coronavirus infections, including 869 deaths, according to Saturday’s update from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
In the Gaza Strip, with around two million inhabitants, more than 33,000 cases have been registered, with 248 deaths.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi has said that Israel could provide vaccines to Palestinians once it has vaccinated its own priority groups, such as front-line healthcare providers.
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