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Sat, Nov 23, 2024 | Jumada al-Awwal 21, 1446 | DXB
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Covid vaccine: 20% Israelis get the jab in 3 weeks
Tel Aviv - 1.817 million of Israel's 9.2 million residents have received the Pfizer vaccine.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein receive their second dose of the Covud-19 vaccine. (Screengrab from video shared by Yuli Edelstein)
Israel has vaccinated 20 per cent of its population in three weeks since it started a coronavirus vaccination campaign. The campaign is the largest in the country's history, its health minister said.
"We have completed three weeks of campaign 'Return to Life' with wonderful news," Health Minister Yuli Edelstein tweeted on Sunday.
He said 1.817 million of Israel's 9.2 million residents had received the first jab of the US-German Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
The UAE and Israel are the top two countries in giving coronavirus jabs.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Edelstein were the first to receive the second dose late on Saturday in the Sheba Hospital near Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu and his health minister received the first injection on December 19, marking the start of the mass campaign that has seen Israel become the country with most inoculations per capita.
ALSO READ: UAE Covid vaccine: Over 1 million residents vaccinated
The government aims to vaccinate all residents of the country over the age of 16 by the end of March.
With a daily caseload swelling to around 8,000 since a second lockdown was relaxed in October, Israel tightened a third nationwide lockdown on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the first four infections with a new coronavirus variant that originally appeared in South Africa have been detected in Israel, according to the Health Ministry.
Israel has seen 3,645 Covid-19-related deaths since the novel virus was first detected in the country nearly one year ago.
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