Coronavirus: Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu to receive first shot of COVID-19 vaccine

By Team Newsable | First Published Dec 17, 2020, 12:02 PM IST

In his video address, the Israeli Prime Minister also said that million of vaccine doses will be available to Israelis by the end of January. Netanyahu also called on citizens not to avoid getting inoculated.

Jerusalem: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to become the first person in Israel to receive Covid-19 vaccine.

In a video address from quarantine, where he has been since Monday after coming in contact with a person who later tested positive for Covid-19, Netanyahu said he asked to be the first to receive the vaccine so as to demonstrate its effectiveness.

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"On Friday, I will leave quarantine and on Saturday evening I will go get vaccinated. I have asked to be the first person to get vaccinated in order to serve as an example and to persuade you that you can and should be vaccinated," read Netanyahu's statement on the Israeli government website, roughly translated into English.

Netanyahu explained that after all frontline workers, the elderly and those in risk groups have been vaccinated, subsequent shipments of the vaccine can cover the entirety of the Israeli population.

This announcement by the Israeli leader comes after the first doses of Covid-19 vaccine produced by US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German firm BioNTech arrived in Israel.

In total, the Israeli government had signed a deal for 8 million doses of the vaccine, which is already being used in the United Kingdom. Apart from this, Israel has also concluded deals with other manufacturers, including the US Moderna, for other candidate vaccines.

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