Israel Ministry of Health director general Prof. Hezi Levi told a press conference today about the progress of Israel's vaccination drive.
He said, "We began with the Pfizer vaccine last Saturday night when the prime minister and minister of health were vaccinated. So far, in five days, Israel is the country that has vaccinated most people per 100 of the population. We have so far vaccinated 180,000 people and we are moving forward."
"From Sunday we will overcome logistical problems in distributing the vaccine and we can distribute a lot more vaccine to a lot more places. The aim is to vaccinate four million people during the first quarter of 2021, and we have the vaccine to do that and I hope that we will succeed. Proceedings for medical care are exempted from the lockdown and it’s the same regarding vaccinations. So go and get vaccinated despite the lockdown."
Asked when the entire population would have been vaccinated by, Levi said, "We are currently vaccinating priority groups according to the level of risk. We have begun vaccinating people over 60 and people at risk. Next week we will step up the number of vaccinations given in care homes."
"I hope that in the coming weeks we will begin to vaccinate the general population. Teachers are certainly a population sector that we want to vaccinate, and I assume that within seven to ten days, we will begin to vaccinate that group."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 24, 2020
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