Over 4,071,500 Israelis have received the first dose of the Pfizer-developed COVID-19 vaccine, some 44% of the population.
By Aryeh Savir, TPS
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein visited the Leumit Health Care Services vaccination facility in Jerusalem on Tuesday to celebrate the four millionth person receiving the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine in Israel.
Netanyahu appealed to the 570,000 Israelis over 50 who have yet to be vaccinated to do so while noting that almost 100% of the COVID-19 deaths and severe cases are concentrated in this group.
“When you do not go to be vaccinated because of this small jab, which is insignificant, in the worst case the side effects are a few hours’ discomfort – you take upon yourselves the risks of death and severe illness with effects that could be for life,” he warned.
The reasons to get vaccinated are “the danger of not being vaccinated” and the Green Passport plan that enables whoever has been vaccinated to go and enjoy the theater, the cinema, sports events, flights abroad, restaurants, he explained.
Another reason is to prevent an overload in the hospitals and a fourth lockdown.
“Then it is worthwhile to preserve life and allow all of us to get back to life. We can completely exit if 570,000 people will go be vaccinated,” he declared.
Over 4,071,500 Israelis have received the first dose of the Pfizer-developed COVID-19 vaccine, some 44% of the population.
Over 2.6 million Israelis – about 29% – have received the second dose.
Over 80% of Israelis aged 60 and older received the second dose, and another 10% received the first dose.
The University of Oxford’s Our World in Data tracker, a global, aggregated database on COVID-19, showed Israel was the fastest country in vaccinating its population.
On a scale of the number of COVID-19 vaccination doses administered per 100 people within a given population, Israel came in first with 1.39, ahead of the United Arab Emirates with 0.97, and Chile with 0.96.