US drugmaker Moderna said on Monday it would deliver 6 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to Israel later this month.
“Ministry of Health of Israel has secured 6 million doses and first deliveries (are) expected to begin in January,” Moderna said in a statement quoted by Reuters.
Moderna has already received authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine in the United States and Canada. Additional authorizations are currently under review in the European Union, Singapore, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Israel launched its vaccination campaign in mid-December, using the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.
As of Monday morning, a total of 1,224,000 Israelis had received the first dose of the two-dose Pfizer vaccine.
That amounts to 12,59% of Israel’s total population, giving Israel the highest vaccination rate in the world so far.