Israel delivered its 1 millionth COVID-19 vaccination on Friday – and is the first in the world to vaccinate 10 percent of the population.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in attendance for the record shooting in Umm el-Fahm.
“We have outdone the world when it comes to vaccinations,” said the prime minister. “We are moving forward at tremendous speed.”
“I think it’s important that the Arab public in Israel also vaccinates quickly,” Netanyahu continued. “This is important because it saves lives.”
The milestone comes as the US grapples with a slow rollout of its two coronavirus vaccines, with only 1 percent of the country getting the first dose. In New York, once the epicenter of the pandemic, only 32 percent of the administered doses ended up in the arms of the residents.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Israel was on track to have 1 million vaccinations after it dosed 153,000 people with the Pfizers vaccine on Thursday. That means that 10 percent of the 9.3 million inhabitants have received their first dose.
How about the 950,000 vaccinated citizens of Israel? Yesterday we broke another record and vaccinated 153,430 people at 325 vaccination stations across the country, ”said Health Minister Yuli Edelstein on Friday. “On behalf of all of you, I would like to thank the medical staff for the great work.”
According to the Times of Israel, vaccinations began in Israel on Dec. 20.
The vaccination blitz won’t last forever, however, as the Israeli Ministry of Health announced on Thursday that it would temporarily suspend the shots later this month to prevent the country’s entire stock from being eaten, the British Telegraph said.
The ministry will usually suspend new vaccinations between Jan. 10 and Jan. 31, to ensure they have enough supplies to cover the second doses for those who have already administered the first, the report said.
The two-dose Pfizer vaccine should be given 21 days apart.
If the current pace continued unabated, Israel would use up its supply of the Pfizer vaccine within 10 days, The Telegraph reported, citing local media.
According to a data analysis by Bloomberg, Israel is the first country to vaccinate 10 percent of its population. The second is Bahrain, which administered 57,317 doses to 3.9 percent of the population on December 30. The UK is in third place – but with only 1.4 percent having received the first dose of vaccine so far.