AN ISRAELI healthcare group has said coronavirus cases among people aged over 60 who received their jab have plunged by 60 per cent.

The country has been leading the global vaccination race with a 24/7 distribution scheme involving the military.

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More than 2.5 million of the country's nine-million population have received inoculations already, according to the health ministry.

It means that about 38 per cent of the population have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

KSM Maccabi Research and Innovation Centre said on Friday that there had been a "significant decrease" in Covid-19 infection rates among people aged over 60 who were vaccinated between December 19 and 24.

The healthcare group analysed data of more than 50,000 patients and found that hospitalisations in the same group age had plunged by more than 60 per cent.  

SPEEDY ROLLOUT

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the rapid rollout "will afford us the possibility of overcoming the coronavirus, of emerging from it, of opening the economy and getting life back to routine."

The country secured a hefty supply of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and pledged to share the impact data quickly with the US-German manufacturer.

It comes after Israel extended its third national lockdown due to soaring infection rates across the country.

According to the latest data, Israel has had 593,961 coronavirus cases in total and 4,341 Covid-related deaths.

On Thursday, 1,918 people were in hospital with Covid-19 out of the 82,930 active cases.

The total number of people in hospital has been rising in recent days and has almost doubled in a week.

Despite the current high number of infections, though, the latest data by KSM Maccabi Research and Innovation Centre could be a sign of hope thatcases and hospitalisations may start to fall.

Yesterday, the country began administering coronavirus jabs to teenagers.

The Health Ministry said that jabs will be given to high school students, aged 16-18, whose parents provide approval.

Israel's largest health fund, Clalit, began delivering vaccines to teens yesterday morning, before three smaller funds follow on with the rollout.

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