Tel Aviv, Israel:
Israel received its initially batch of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring the pandemic’s finish was “in sight” and vowing to get the initially jab.
“This is a great celebration for Israel,” he stated on the tarmac at Ben Gurion airport, close to Tel Aviv, as a fork-lift truck began unloading the cargo from a red and yellow DHL air freighter.
The shipment was the initially of eight million doses ordered from US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer BioNTech.
It came ahead of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, which starts on Thursday.
“The end is in sight,” Netanyahu stated referring to the illness which has infected 348,948 Israelis, 2,932 of them fatally, according to a Wednesday update.
“What is important to me is that Israeli citizens get vaccinated,” he added.
“I want to serve as an example to them and I intend to be the first to be injected with this vaccine in the state of Israel.”
The Pfizer vaccine has but to get the important regulatory approvals for use in Israel but Netanyahu stated he anticipated it to get clearance “in the very near” future.
The outcomes of third-phase clinical trials showed that the vaccine was 90 % productive in stopping Covid-19 symptoms and did not create adverse side effects amongst thousands of volunteers.
Britain began inoculating its citizens with the vaccine on Tuesday.
Israel has also contracted to get six million Covid-19 vaccine doses from US biotech firm Moderna which are anticipated to be delivered in 2021, providing a total of 14 million shots for its populaton of nine million.
The Jewish state imposed a second nationwide lockdown in September, when the nation had 1 of the world’s highest per capita infection prices.
Restrictions have due to the fact been steadily eased but infection prices are once again on the rise.
On Monday, Netanyahu’s workplace announced a sweeping evening-time curfew but it has so far not received the cabinet approval expected for its implementation and no specifics have been published.
(This story has not been edited by TheSpuzz employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)