Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was vaccinated against the novel coronavirus on a live television broadcast. Netanyahu along with the Health Minister Yuli Edelstein received the shot at Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening.

Netanyahu was the first Israeli to receive the vaccine, hours before a major roll-out of the vaccinations was to begin in the country. “This is a great day,” Netanyahu told reporters at the center. “I believe in this vaccine and I am doing this to serve as a role model and encourage people to get vaccinated,” he added.

First in line to be inoculated starting on Sunday will be medical staff, the elderly and people with high-risk factors. The large-scale immunisation operation comes as Israel faces an up-tick in virus cases in recent weeks. Israel has so far reported more than 370,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and 3,057 deaths.