Israel to Offer Vaccinations to All Residents by April

(Bloomberg) -- Israel will be able to make coronavirus vaccinations available by the end of March or early April to all residents who wish to be inoculated, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said on Sunday.

At the same time, Edelstein called on the government to impose a full, two-week lockdown to slow the surge in virus infections.

Some 1.1 million Israelis have already received a first dose of the Pfizer Inc. vaccine. That’s about 12% of the population, the highest percentage in the world, according to the Our World in Data website. But because Israel is working so quickly, it is running out of vaccines and may have to slow its inoculation drive unless additional vaccines arrive ahead of schedule, the Health Ministry director general has said.

All those who received the first dose will be given a second, Edelstein said.

While restrictions on movement have been in place for a week, infections have continued to climb. A government task force said Sunday that the new variant of the virus that emerged in Britain is beginning to circulate in Israel as well.

Since late November, daily case numbers have been mounting, bringing the total since the beginning of the pandemic to more than 435,000, including 3,404 fatalities.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.