Israel says it is vaccinating against Covid faster than any other country
A total of 169,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine were given over the weekend of 26-27 December.
![Israel Netanyahu](https://static.independent.co.uk/2020/12/23/20/Israel_Netanyahu_12254.jpg)
Support truly
independent journalism
Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.
Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.
Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.
![Louise Thomas](https://static.independent.co.uk/static-assets/support-us/louise-thomas.png)
Louise Thomas
Editor
Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein reported the country has delivered 380,000 inoculations against coronavirus in eight days, prizing Israel with the title of the fastest rate of vaccination rate per capita in the world.
A total of 169,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine were given over the weekend of 26-27 December.
Israel is set to enter its third national lockdown to quell positive cases of Covid-19, which have gone over 5,000 daily infections in the last reported 2 days.
Prime Minister - and first Israeli to receive the vaccine - Benjamin Netanyahu announced on 26 December that if the country maintains its current pace of vaccinations, then 25% of the country’s 9.1 million residents will be inoculated by the end of January.
Prof. Jonathan Halevy, president of Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, said he believes the government. “They have delivered the goods. I don’t see any reason we will not reach this number,” he said.
“It is a game-changer. I don’t know if we will reach 150,000 per day, but 100,000 we will readily reach. I can see 2 million people inoculated in January,” he said.
“If we vaccinate 2 million people in a month and there are already some 1 million Israelis – though statistics say about 400,000 – who have or had coronavirus, we are in good shape to reach herd immunity for the population, which I would say is somewhere in the 60% -70% range,” Halevy said.
In November, it was announced that Isreal had struck a deal to receive 1 million doses of the Oxford/Astrazeneca vaccine, which was approved for use early on 30 December.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments