Israel vaccination number 1,000,000
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein have met the 1,000,000th person in Israel to be vaccinated.
Photo: Haim Zac
Also participating in the visit were Umm Al-Fahm Mayor Samir Sobhi Mahameed, Clalit Healthcare Services Chairman Harel Locker, Maccabi Healthcare Services Chairman Ran Saar, the official responsible for coronavirus affairs in the Arab sector, Ayman Saif; Jabarin Muhammad (66), a resident of Umm Al-Fahm, was the 1,000,000th person in Israel to be vaccinated.
The vaccination took place at the anti-coronavirus vaccination facility in Umm Al-Fahm, a city located 20 kilometres northwest of Jenin in the Haifa District.
Prime Minister Netanyahu said: “What excitement, Jabarin is the 1,000,000th person in the State of Israel to be vaccinated. We are breaking all of the records. We brought millions of vaccines to the State of Israel. We are ahead of the entire world and now we are ahead of them with our excellent HMOs. We are moving forward at great speed in order to vaccinate the entire population.
It is important to me also that the Arab population in the State of Israel be vaccinated quickly. It is important because this saves lives and only thus will we be able to return to normal lives.
As soon as we reach a critical mass of people who are vaccinated, we will be able to open commerce, the stores and the restaurants. We will be able to fly abroad, to make deals and travel in all the countries that we have made peace with, peace that has opened the world and is also changing our history, as Israeli society and as a country.
There is responsibility and there is a lack of responsibility. The responsibility is to bring the vaccines and distribute them. The lack of responsibility is – at the same time – to allow the disease to run amok. I regret that for populistic reasons, we were prevented from enacting the small and tightened lockdown that we wanted and which would save hundreds of people and families in the State of Israel. We wanted a small and tightened lockdown and a rapid opening of the economy together with lightning-quick vaccinations. I regret that this has not happened; therefore, I would like to take this opportunity here and say that we will continue to bring vaccines and I call on the public to be vaccinated.”
Health Minister Edelstein added: “Now, after the 1,000,000th person to be vaccinated is here with us, it is possible to say with certainty that Israel, with G-d’s help, will be the first country in the world to be vaccinated. This is a great achievement. Within a few months, we will be able to say: ‘Hasta la vista‘ to the coronavirus and return to normality.”
