Israel received its first batch of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declaring the pandemic’s end was “in sight” and vowing to get the first jab.
“This is a great celebration for Israel,” he said on the tarmac at Ben Gurion airport, near Tel Aviv, as a fork-lift truck started unloading the cargo from a red and yellow DHL air freighter.
The shipment was the first of eight million doses ordered from US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer BioNTech.
It came ahead of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, which begins on Thursday.
“The end is in sight,” Netanyahu said.