Israel delivered its 1 millionth COVID-19 vaccine on Friday – and is the first in the world to vaccinate 10 percent of its population.
According to Benjamin Post, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was ready for the record recording in Umm el-Fahm.
“We have surpassed the whole world in terms of vaccinations,” the prime minister said. “We are moving forward with tremendous speed.”
“It is important to me that the Arab public in Israel also vaccinates quickly,” Netanyahu continued. “It’s important because it saves lives.”
The milestone comes as the U.S. struggles with a slow rollout of its two coronavirus vaccines, with only 1 percent of the country receiving the first dose. In New York, which was once the center of the pandemic, only 32 percent of the doses delivered ended up in residents’ arms.
Israel was on track to get 1 million vaccinations after dosing 153,000 more people with Pfizer’s vaccination on Thursday, according to the Jerusalem Post. This means that 10 percent of the population of 9.3 million received their first dose.
‘What about the 950,000 vaccinated citizens of Israel? “Just yesterday we broke another record and vaccinated 153,430 people at 325 vaccination stations across the country,” Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said on Friday. “On behalf of all of you, I thank the medical staff for the wonderful work.”
According to the Times of Israel, vaccinations in Israel began on December 20.
However, the flash for vaccinations will not last forever, but the Israeli Ministry of Health announced on Thursday that it will temporarily suspend later this month to prevent it from eating through the country, according to the British Telegraph.
The ministry will usually suspend new vaccinations between January 10 and January 31 to ensure they have sufficient supplies to cover the second doses for those who have already been administered for the first time, the report said.
Pfizer’s two-dose vaccine should be given 21 days apart.
If the current pace were to continue unabated, Israel would use up its stockpile of Pfizer vaccine within ten days, reports The Telegraph, citing local media.
Israel is the first country to vaccinate 10 percent of its population, according to a data analysis by Bloomberg. Second is Bahrain, which on December 30 administered 57,317 doses to 3.9 percent of its population. The UK is in third place – but with just 1.4 per cent the first dose of vaccine so far.