In a televised press conference on Wednesday evening, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the nation that the government’s goal is to completely re-open the economy by the end of April.

The Prime Minister presented a five-step plan to bring about a fully re-opened economy, with the first phase being the current one. Phase two scheduled for next week, will see more schoolchildren return to in-person learning. Phase three, in two week’s time, will see the green passport program expanded. During the last week of March, the government expects that all eligible Israelis will be vaccinated, allowing the full re-opening of the economy in April, which is stage 5.

Netanyahu was joined at the press conference by top Health Ministry’s officials, heads of the health funds (HMOs), and Magen David Adom officials. During the press conference, Netanyahu said that while more than 5 million Israelis either received at least the first dose of the vaccine or have recovered from the virus, there are still about 1.2 million individuals over 16 who have not been vaccinated, blaming “fake news” for the slowdown.

Netanyahu called on the public to go and get vaccinated numerous times and stressed that Israel is the only country in the world that has enough vaccines for all its citizens. Netanyahu said that he has been in contact with both Pfizer and Moderna to discuss the possibility of building vaccine factories in Israel, adding that Israel was also in contact with six other countries to build joint facilities.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Knesset approved a bill allowing the Health Ministry to share the identity of people who are eligible to be inoculated but who have not done so – including names, ID numbers, phone numbers, and addresses – with municipalities and Education and Welfare ministries.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)