‘Israel’s Vaccination Program May Begin Before December 27’: Health Min Yuli Edelstein

Israeli Minister of Health Yuli Edelstein during a visit to an inoculation centre established by Maccabi health fund group on December 13 hinted at the possibility that country’s mass COVID-19 vaccination program may begin earlier than the proposed December 27 start date. This statement came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country will begin vaccinating up to 60,000 people a day from December 27.  While speaking to reporters about the Israel vaccination program, the country’s Health Minister said that he has seen the advanced preparations at the inoculation centre. Yuli Edelstein also said that the country can even start vaccinating medical teams from next week. 

Earlier, this week, the first set of doses of COVID-19 vaccine produced by the US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and German firm BioNTech arrived in Israel. In total, the country’s government has signed a deal for 8 million doses of the vaccine which is already being used in the United Kingdom. Apart from this, the Israeli government has also concluded deals with other manufacturers, including the US firm Moderna, for other candidate vaccines.

The clinical trials for Israel’s domestically produced vaccine against the pandemic began on November 1. As the world continues to battle against the Coronavirus pandemic, Israel so far has recorded over 3,56,000 positive cases, out of which 2,990 people have died.