Israel on Wednesday December 9, received its first batch of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring that the pandemic’s end was “insight” and vowing to get the first jab.
“This is a great celebration for Israel,” he said on the tarmac at Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv, as a fork-lift truck started unloading the cargo from a red and yellow DHL air freighter.
The shipment was the first of eight million doses ordered from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its partner BioNTech.
“The end is in sight,” Netanyahu said about the disease which has infected 348,948 Israelis and killed about 2,932 people.
“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 yet to receive the necessary regulatory approvals for use in Israel but Netanyahu said he expected it to receive clearance “in the very near” future.
By Jide N.