Netanyahu boasts Israel will be ‘the first country in the world to emerge from the coronavirus’ as he bags new supplies of Pfizer jab and vows to plough on with his world-beating vaccination drive
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has boasted that Israel will be ‘the first country in the world to emerge from coronavirus’ as he secures new Pfizer supplies.
The veteran premier said he had secured an agreement with Pfizer to bring forward deliveries of the vaccine in return for Israel providing 'statistical data' to help other countries defeat Covid-19.
Netanyahu said plans are in place to vaccinate everyone in the country by the end of March, making it 'the first country in the world to emerge from the coronavirus'.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein welcomed crates of the Pfizer vaccine as they were unloaded at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv on Sunday
'We will be able to embrace each other and get back to life,' Netanyahu said.
Meanwhile Netanyahu and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein watched today as crates of the Pfizer vaccine were unloaded at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv.
One official said the shipment, which had arrived from Belgium, contained between 700,000 and 800,000 doses.
Speaking about the vaccine rollout, Mr Netanyahu said: 'The agreement that I have made with Pfizer will enable us to vaccinate all citizens of Israel over the age of 16 by the end of March and perhaps even earlier, meaning that we will vaccinate the entire relevant population and everyone who wants to will be able to be vaccinated.'
Israeli Prime Minister Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receives the second dose of the vaccine
He continued: 'Israel will share with Pfizer and with the entire world the statistical data that will help develop strategies for defeating the coronavirus.'
It comes after Israel has already vaccinated 1.8million – a fifth of its population – in three weeks. Yet it did not order any Pfizer-BioNTech jabs until mid-November.
Israel's health minister Yuli Edelstein has previously praised nurses in the country for reducing waste by squeezing out the sixth dose for their patients.
Israel has left the world behind after ordering millions of doses in advance, distributing them quickly to remote areas and enlisting military reservists to help.
Netanyahu has put the vaccination drive at the centre of his campaign ahead of an Israeli election on March 23.
The rapid rollout comes amid a rise in cases which Netanyahu has blamed on the British mutation of the virus, which is thought to be more transmissible.