<p> 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.</p>.<p>"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.</p>.<p>The shipment was the first of eight million doses ordered from US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer BioNTech.</p>.<p>It came ahead of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, which begins on Thursday.</p>.<p>"The end is in sight," Netanyahu said referring to the disease which has infected 348,948 Israelis, 2,932 of them fatally, according to a Wednesday update.</p>.<p>"What is important to me is that Israeli citizens get vaccinated," he added.</p>.<p>"I want to serve as an example to them and I intend to be the first to be injected with this vaccine in the state of Israel."</p>.<p>The Pfizer vaccine has yet to receive the necessary regulatory approvals for use in Israel but Netanyahu said he expected it to receive clearance "in the very near" future.</p>.<p>The results of third-phase clinical trials showed that the vaccine was 90 percent effective in preventing Covid-19 symptoms and did not produce adverse side effects among thousands of volunteers.</p>.<p>Britain started inoculating its citizens with the vaccine on Tuesday.</p>.<p>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 for its populaton of nine million.</p>.<p>The Jewish state imposed a second nationwide lockdown in September, when the country had one of the world's highest per capita infection rates.</p>.<p>Restrictions have since been gradually eased but infection rates are again on the rise.</p>.<p>On Monday, Netanyahu's office announced a sweeping night-time curfew but it has so far not received the cabinet approval required for its implementation and no details have been published.</p>
<p> 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.</p>.<p>"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.</p>.<p>The shipment was the first of eight million doses ordered from US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer BioNTech.</p>.<p>It came ahead of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, which begins on Thursday.</p>.<p>"The end is in sight," Netanyahu said referring to the disease which has infected 348,948 Israelis, 2,932 of them fatally, according to a Wednesday update.</p>.<p>"What is important to me is that Israeli citizens get vaccinated," he added.</p>.<p>"I want to serve as an example to them and I intend to be the first to be injected with this vaccine in the state of Israel."</p>.<p>The Pfizer vaccine has yet to receive the necessary regulatory approvals for use in Israel but Netanyahu said he expected it to receive clearance "in the very near" future.</p>.<p>The results of third-phase clinical trials showed that the vaccine was 90 percent effective in preventing Covid-19 symptoms and did not produce adverse side effects among thousands of volunteers.</p>.<p>Britain started inoculating its citizens with the vaccine on Tuesday.</p>.<p>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 for its populaton of nine million.</p>.<p>The Jewish state imposed a second nationwide lockdown in September, when the country had one of the world's highest per capita infection rates.</p>.<p>Restrictions have since been gradually eased but infection rates are again on the rise.</p>.<p>On Monday, Netanyahu's office announced a sweeping night-time curfew but it has so far not received the cabinet approval required for its implementation and no details have been published.</p>