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Israel PM Netanyahu Becomes First Person In Israel To Receive COVID-19 Vaccination: “I Believe In This Vaccine”

By • December 20, 2020 12:58 pm

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got his coronavirus vaccine on Sunday, becoming the first Israeli to get the shot and also one of the first world leaders to do so.

Netanyahu got his Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on live television as the country is set to begin administering the vaccine to its frontline health workers and elderly nursing home residents.

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The Israeli Prime Minister said he wanted to be the first to get the vaccine shot in Israel to set an example to the public and disprove doubts over the efficacy of the vaccine.

“I believe in this vaccine,” Netanyahu said before getting the injection on Sunday at the Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv as he described the process as an “exciting moment” that would put Israel on track to normalization sooner rather than later.

“We can exit this together and we will soon get started. I believe in this vaccine. Tens of thousands of people have received it successfully. The best scientists have approved it. We can get underway,” he added.

Aside from Netanhayu, Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein also received the coronavirus vaccine.

In the US, Vice President Mike Pence was also vaccinated on Friday in an effort to boost American confidence in COVID vaccines.

Israel earlier said it secured enough doses of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for its nine million people. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also approved Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate on Friday, becoming the second vaccine to secure a go-signal for emergency use.

Netanyahu noted that Israel could emerge from the pandemic faster if Israelis would go ahead and get the shot.

“If everyone is vaccinated quicker we will thereby restore life to the normality that we knew quicker, especially the economy. We will invest more resources and efforts in order to restore what was. We need your help; it depends on all of us,” he said.

He also praised the US for delivering a coronavirus vaccine in record time.

“This moment is very moving. On the way here, I thought about the children who are worrying about their parents, about the grandchildren who want to give their grandparents a real hug,” he tweeted.

“I thought about the business-owners who will be able to open their businesses, restaurant-owners, gyms; we will be able to go soccer fields, to see basketball games and, of course, to reopen the country and restore it to what it was, to go back to the normal life that we desire.”

“This starts with this action. I ask everyone to join us and be vaccinated.”

Netanyahu said by the end of the month, there will be millions of vaccines in Israel and additional millions will come afterward.

“I have asked to be vaccinated first, together with Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, in order to serve as a personal example and to encourage all of you to be vaccinated,” he said on Sunday.

After receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, the Israeli Prime Minister noted that he’s feeling great.

“I feel great; go get vaccinated. We are emerging from the darkness of the coronavirus into a great light,” Netanyahu said.

Meanwhile, in the US, VP Pence said Americans could expect vaccines enough for 20 million Americans by the end of the month.

“Under Operation Warp Speed, we are poised to have vaccines for 20 million Americans before the end of December. It is truly a medical miracle and an inspiration to people across this country,” the Republican vice president said.

 

Steeve Strange

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