PM Netanyahu gets coronavirus jab, starting Israel rollout

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu kicked off a national rollout of Covid-19 vaccine on Saturday as he received a jab himself.

Netanyahu and Israel's health minister were injected with the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine live on TV at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv.

"I asked to be vaccinated first, together with Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, to serve as personal examples and encourage you to be vaccinated," Netanyahu told the television audience.

Each recipient must receive a booster shot in three weeks for optimal protection from the novel coronavirus.

Latest Israeli health ministry figures reported over 370,000 people had tested positive for the virus since the Jewish state confirmed its first case in February. And just over 3,000 people have died.

The vaccine will be rolled out at 10 hospitals and vaccination centres around Israel for healthcare workers from Sunday, according to the health ministry.

During the course of the week, a ministry statement said, vaccinations will be extended to the general public, starting with those aged over 60.

Other countries have begun rolling out the vaccine already.

Britain started inoculating its citizens with the same vaccine on December 8. It has since been approved by the United States, Canada and, on Saturday, Switzerland.

United States Vice President Mike Pence got the jab live on television Friday, while President-elect Joe Biden is set to receive his shot on Monday.

President Donald Trump has made it clear he is not planning to take the vaccine imminently, citing the belief that his recovery from a brief but severe bout of Covid-19 has given him immunity.

Israel has also contracted to buy six million Covid-19 vaccine doses from US biotech firm Moderna, which are expected to be delivered in 2021, giving a total of 14 million shots.