More than 12,400 people in Israel have contracted the novel coronavirus, after getting Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, WION reported. This includes 69 people who were administered the second dose of the vaccine.

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Since the vaccine rollout on December 19, Israel has inoculated more than 2.2 million of its people, the country’s Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said on Tuesday. This number roughly translates to about a quarter of Israel’s population. 3.5% in the country have already received vaccine’s second dose.

The Health Ministry tested 189,000 of those vaccinated with Pfizer/BioNTech’s shot. 6.6% of them have tested positive.

Israel has committed to share its data on the effects of the mass vaccination with the US-German makers.

When Israel started its mass vaccination drive in December, it had prioritised elderly, those with health ailments and the emergency workers.

Also read: Israel Prison Service to vaccinate Palestinian inmates

Despite vaccinating such a large portion of its population, the country is in its third lockdown and virus cases showing no signs of slowing down. For the first time, Israel confirmed more than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases on Monday. 

It has recorded more than half a million cases and 4,181 deaths, as per Johns Hopkins University’s tally.