Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, as a shipment of 700,000 Pfizer COVID vaccines arrived at Ben-Gurion International Airport, that the Pfizer vaccines would continue to arrive, with a "huge" shipment expected.
Netanyahu said that he and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein had agreed that starting Sunday, Israel would step up its vaccination campaign to jab 170,000 people per day.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
"In the next few days I intend to take on the economy just like I took on the vaccines," Netanyahu said. "We'll provide more aid, more help, and more grants designed to get Israel out of the economic COVID crisis. We'll do it together, with enormous success. We will be the first country to make it out of the COVID and economic COVID crises, and get our lives back on track," he added.
Earlier Sunday, national coronavirus coordinator Professor Nachman Ash said in a press briefing that there were signs that the third lockdown was having an effect.
"This is the third day of the [third] lockdown," Ash said. "We're racing – the spread of the virus vs. the vaccine. Our goal is to vaccinate as many people as possible. This past weekend we saw an increase in new cases – 5,000 confirmed on Shabbat, which is higher than the previous weekends."
However, Ash said, there were grounds for optimism: "The graph [of new cases] isn't rising exponentially, but appears to be starting to flatten. However, the number of patients in serious condition is higher than it was during the second wave."
"The lockdown was set for two weeks and will end next week between Thursday and Friday. Right now, we're thinking about what our goals will be for coming out of the lockdown. The parameters for exiting the lockdown will include the numbers of new confirmed cases, patients in serious condition, and the number of patients infected by each confirmed carrier. Based on these, we will decide if we can accommodate a rise in cases," Ash explained.
When asked if the third lockdown had been successful, Ash responded that it was too early to tell.
"We are seeing different pictures and hearing different thing. Some people sat in traffic jams and others traveled on empty highways. We are operating according to traffic date, but it arrives a day or two behind. Tomorrow [Monday], we will get the information and know. My sense is that the people are with us in this lockdown, and following instructions. I hope the numbers will bear that out," he said.
In the meantime, Ash told the press that Israel's vaccination campaign would open to new sectors in the next few weeks.
"Our strategy is to vaccinate at-risk populations, and thereby reduce morbidity and mortality and reopen the economy, even if the number of confirmed cases doesn't drop. At the moment, we have decided to give teachers in special education priority, and then the rest of the teachers. Later on we'll add the age groups 55-60 or 50-60. This will be decided based on the number of doses available," Ash said.
Ash noted that Israel had the capability of administering 150,000 vaccinations per day, and wanted to see 200,000 vaccinations per day.
As far as vaccinating housebound Israelis, Ash said that health officials were examining the Moderna vaccine, which requires less stringent storage procedures than the Pfizer vaccine, and evaluating the feasibility of bringing it to people's homes.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
