Over half of Israelis have received both shots of Covid-19 vaccine – health minister

More than half of Israel’s 9.3 million population has received two doses of coronavirus vaccines, the country’s health minister has announced, urging citizens to continue following “guidelines” to fully emerge from the pandemic.

The country reached the important milestone in its massive vaccination campaign on Thursday.

“We have passed the 50% threshold mark of all Israeli citizens who received the second dose of the vaccine. Thanks to all of them, the State of Israel is defeating coronavirus. All that remains is to follow [health] guidelines so that the coronavirus does not return,” Edelstein said on Twitter.

People who receive both doses of the vaccine are deemed to be fully protected from coronavirus a week after the second shot.

Israel launched its vaccination drive back in December, using Pfizer’s jab as the main tool to inoculate its citizens. The country’s anti-coronavirus campaign has proven to be one of the most rapid vaccine rollouts in the world.

According to official figures, some 4.46 million have already got both doses of Pfizer jab, constituting just over 50% of the country’s 9.3 million population. A further 740,000 people have been given only the first dose so far.

The vaccine rollout has been touted by the authorities as the main way to get out of the spiral of lockdowns, endured by Israel over the course of the past year. Israel has registered some 830,000 coronavirus cases and more than 6,100 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

While the figures are significantly lower than those recorded by the worst-hit nations, which clocked up millions of cases and tens of thousands of deaths, they are still comparatively sizable given the country’s population.

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