JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his government will begin administering vaccines against the coronavirus to the general public on Dec. 27.
In a televised news conference on Wednesday night, Netanyahu said Israel is prepared to vaccinate some 60,000 people a day. He called it a “great number” for a country of 9 million people.
He spoke hours after the first shipment of Pfizer vaccines arrived in the country. Hundreds of thousands of doses are expected to arrive in the coming days.
Netanyahu also said he would be the first person in the country to get the vaccine, saying he wanted to set an example for the public.
Those who are vaccinated will receive special cards or applications for their phones to allow them to move freely about and to help reopen the economy.
“We are bringing the end of the virus,” he said.
