Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett receives a third shot of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine as Israel launches booster shots for over 40 year-olds in Kfar Saba, Israel August 20, 2021. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

i24 News – The number of people in Israel who have not received any vaccine doses despite their eligibility has fallen to less than one million, Health Ministry Director General Nachman Ash told a press briefing on Thursday.

Ash said the number of unvaccinated citizens is now around 900,000, adding that the progress that has been made “is not enough.”

He praised the fact that the baseline reproduction number, or R0, fell below 1 this week for the first time in about three months, meaning the outbreak is on the decline, but he also emphasized the need to guard against complacency.

The virus reproduction index, or R number, measures the number of new cases resulting from each infection. Any number greater than 1 indicates infections are on the rise, while a number less than 1 indicates that an epidemic is abating.

Ash also believed that the recent slowdown in the spread of the coronavirus can be attributed to the third dose of the vaccine.

Over 2.7 million Israelis have received the booster jab while more than 5.5 million have been jabbed twice and over 6 million people have received at least one vaccine dose.

The number of people in serious condition in Israel as of Thursday stood at 682 with 241 in critical care and 173 on respirators.