Netanyahu says pandemic will likely be over in Israel ‘within weeks’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that he hopes up to 100,000 Israelis will be vaccinated every day by next weekend, and says the Jewish state could be the first in the world to overcome the pandemic.

“I want to tell you that the combination of the marvelous vaccine campaign on the one hand, and a short and quick lockdown on the other, allows us to get out of the coronavirus [pandemic]. And we’ll likely be the first country to get out of the coronavirus [crisis], within a few weeks,” Netanyahu says in a statement.

An Israeli nurse prepares a COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Jerusalem on December 23, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Sixty-five thousand Israelis were vaccinated on Wednesday, and the Health Ministry is aiming by next week to be vaccinating 100,000 Israelis per day. For now, Israel is vaccinating over 60s and at-risk Israelis, with the general public not yet eligible.