A medical worker gets her second vaccination injection against the coronavirus disease as Israel continues its national vaccination drive during a third national COVID-19 lockdown, at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov Hospital) in Tel Aviv, Israel, January 10, 2021. Photo: REUTERS/ Ronen Zvulun.

JNS.org – More than half of Israel’s citizens have now been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Israeli Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said on Thursday.

“We have crossed the 50 percent threshold of all Israeli citizens who are vaccinated in the second dose. Thanks to you [the public], the State of Israel is defeating the coronavirus. All that remains is to follow [Health Ministry] directives so that it doesn’t return,” said Edelstein, referring to the effect of the country’s aggressive inoculation campaign.

COVID-19 morbidity on Wednesday stood at 1.1 percent, down from a high of more than 10 percent, while the virus’s reproduction rate had fallen to 0.59. The downward trend has continued, despite Israel’s gradual exit from its third nationwide lockdown, which began on Dec. 27.

As of Thursday, 4,655,955 Israelis had received both doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, according to Health Ministry data.