Israel administered its millionth COVID-19 vaccination on Friday – and is the first in the world to inoculate 10 percent of its population.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was present for the record shot at Umm el-Fahm, according to the Jerusalem Post.
“We overcame the whole world when it comes to vaccines,” said the prime minister. “We are advancing at tremendous speed.”
“It is important for me that the Arab public in Israel also vaccinates quickly,” continued Netanyahu. “This is important because it saves lives.”
The milestone comes at a time when the United States is struggling to slowly launch its two coronavirus vaccines, with only 1% of the country receiving the first dose. In New York, once the epicenter of the pandemic, only 32% of doses administered ended up in the arms of residents.
Israel was on track to achieve 1 million vaccinations after administering the Pfizer vaccine to an additional 153,000 people on Thursday, according to the Jerusalem Post. This means that 10 percent of its population of 9.3 million received their first dose.
“So, how are Israel’s 950,000 vaccinated citizens? Just yesterday, we broke another record and vaccinated 153,430 people at 325 vaccination posts across the country, ”said Health Minister Yuli Edelstein on Friday. “On behalf of all of you, I thank the medical team for the incredible work.”
Vaccination in Israel began on December 20, according to the Times of Israel.
The vaccine blitz will not continue forever, however, with Israel’s health ministry announcing on Thursday that it would temporarily suspend vaccines later this month to avoid consuming all of the country’s stock, according to the UK Telegraph .
The ministry will mainly suspend new vaccinations between 10 and 31 January, to ensure that they have sufficient supplies to cover second doses for those who have already administered the first, the report said.
The two-dose vaccine from Pfizer should be administered 21 days apart.
If the current pace remained steady, Israel would run out of supplies of the Pfizer vaccine in 10 days, The Telegraph reported, citing local media.
Israel is the first country to vaccinate 10% of its population, according to a Bloomberg data analysis. In second place is Bahrain, which administered 57,317 doses to 3.9% of its population on December 30. The UK is in third place – but with only 1.4% giving the first dose of the vaccine so far.