Netanyahu gets coronavirus jab, starting Israel’s major vaccine rollouts

“I asked to be vaccinated first, together with Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, to serve as personal examples and encourage you to be vaccinated.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a COVID- 19 vaccine jab on Saturday, kicking off a national rollout over the coming days.

Netanyahu, 71, and Israel’s health minister were injected with the PfizerBioNTech vaccine live on TV at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv.

“I asked to be vaccinated first, together with Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, to serve as personal examples and encourage you to be vaccinated,” Netanyahu told the television audience.

Each recipient must receive a booster shot in three weeks for optimal protection from the novel coronavirus.

Latest Israeli health ministry figures reported over 370,000 people had tested positive for the virus since the Jewish state, a country of around 9 million, confirmed its first case in February.

Just over 3,000 people have died. The vaccine will be rolled out at 10 hospitals and vaccination centers around Israel for healthcare workers from Sunday, according to the health ministry.

During the course of the week, a ministry statement said, vaccinations will be extended to the general public, starting with those aged over 60.

Netanyahu spent Monday to Friday in self- isolation after coming into contact with a confirmed coronavirus patient, despite testing negative for the virus on Sunday and again on Monday. Ten days ago, he was at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport to welcome a first batch of the vaccine. The shipment was the first of 8 million doses Israel has ordered from US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.

Benjamin Netanyahu Israeli Prime Minister