Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was vaccinated on December 19, 2020. -

AMIR COHEN / POOL / AFP

A Prime Minister who leads by example.

Benjamin Netanyahu was vaccinated this Saturday evening against Covid-19, at the same time launching the national vaccination campaign against this virus in Israel.

At 71, Netanyahu had the vaccine developed by the BioNTech / Pfizer companies administered at Sheba Hospital, located in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, according to an AFP reporter there.

The head of the Israeli government said he wanted to be the first in Israel to be vaccinated in order to "set an example" and "encourage" the population to be vaccinated against Covid-19 in this country of nine million inhabitants which has identified more than 370,000 cases, including 3,057 deaths.

In total, Israel has ordered more than 14 million doses of vaccine from Moderna and Pfizer laboratories, the latter having been approved by more than 15 countries, including the United States, Canada and Switzerland.

No reduction in health measures, on the contrary

Benjamin Netanyahu said to think "of the children who care about their parents, and of the grandchildren who want to give a real hug, not a hug on Zoom, of their grandfather and their grandmother", referring to a platform videoconferencing popular since the start of the pandemic.

After Benjamin Netanyahu, the authorities must immediately begin to vaccinate members of the medical profession who, along with the most vulnerable people, are the first targets of this vaccination campaign in Israel.

However, the launch of the campaign does not rhyme for the moment with a reduction in health measures.

Saturday evening, the Ministry of Health announced the end of its policy of "green" countries, that is to say on the return of which travelers did not have to do quarantine.

As of Sunday, all people entering Israel will have to be placed in isolation for two weeks, including Israelis returning from the United Arab Emirates, a country which has recently normalized its relations with the Jewish state, contributing to the launch of the first direct air links between Tel Aviv and Dubai.

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