PM Bennett
PM BennettYonatan Sindel/Flash90

At the opening of today's cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced that, "We have been working for a number of weeks on the vaccine issue, and this morning I am happy to report that after a number of conversations with the CEO of Pfizer, Albert Bourla, last night we finalized an agreement to speed up the next shipment of vaccines. The shipment is now set to arrive on the first of August."

Bennett added that, "Taken together with the supply we already have, this guarantees us a continuous supply of vaccines. I want to stress: There are enough doses for everyone. The shipment arriving on August 1 will give us enough vaccine doses. Anyone who isn't yet vaccinated - adult or child - should come and be vaccinated today already."

Speaking on Reshet Bet on Sunday morning, Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz admitted that "The coronavirus is going to be here for the long-term."

"We have vaccines produced by the Moderna company," Horowitz said, "and from this morning, any adult who wishes to be vaccinated with a Moderna vaccine may do so. Yesterday, the project for getting teens vaccinated came to an end. We're still in the process of trying to procure new Pfizer vaccines and we hope that we'll get an answer about that very soon."

Horowitz also noted that, "Today, we're starting to vaccinate people who haven't responded well [i.e. have a low antibody response] to their vaccination - with a third dose.

"The coronavirus is going to be accompanying us for the long-term, and we're going to have to find a way of living with it," he added. "Therefore, the Health Ministry is taking steps to enable us to carrying on living our daily lives with the coronavirus in the background, without overly harsh regulations."

The statements come as Pfizer presses for a third vaccine dose, amid increasing reports that the vaccine may be ineffective against the "Delta" strain.

At the beginning of the month, former Prime Minister Netanyahu called to begin administering a third dose of the vaccine in early August.

''As is known, within 9 months from the date of the second vaccine supply we are supposed to receive the third vaccine supply. From conversations I had with some of the best experts in the world, I believe that the third vaccine should be given to the adult population (50 and over) in early August in order to complete the task by the end of September, and if possible before the start of the school year," he said.