“At these moments, we are signing the agreement with Pfizer to receive eight million doses of vaccine for four million Israeli citizens,” Netanyahu announced.
Following is the prime minister’s statement, made at a press conference Friday afternoon at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv. together with Health Minister Yuli Edelstein:
“This is a great day for the State of Israel and a great day on the way to our victory over the coronavirus. At these moments, we are signing the agreement with Pfizer to receive eight million doses of vaccine for four million Israeli citizens. The Pfizer vaccine requires two doses per person. The hope is that the supply of Pfizer vaccines will start in January and will increase in the following months. All of this depends, of course, on the approval of the health authorities both in the US and Israel. We have more agreements with additional promising companies on the way to receiving additional millions of vaccines for the citizens of Israel.
“Our national mission is to enable a vaccine for every person in Israel, whoever wants one – without exception. I personally am working with my friends, world leaders, in order to ensure that we will receive the vaccine together with the leading countries around the world and that we will not get pushed back in line. The Health Minister and his staff are working on this with their counterparts.
“I would like to thank Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla for the telephone conversations between us. He was attentive at all hours of the day, even at 02:00. I am thankful that the conversations between us led to the removal of the last obstacles and to the closing of the deal, including the addition of millions of vaccine doses for the citizens of Israel.