Tel Aviv, Jan 11 (IANS): Israel has started a nationwide Covid-19 vaccination campaign for all teachers and other educational workers, the Ministry of Education said.

The Israeli education system has more than 203,000 employees, who are in daily contact with more than 2.4 million students on a normal day when there is no lockdown, reports Xinhua news agency.

In the first phase, vaccination will go to the teachers who work as usual during the ongoing full lockdown in the country, the Ministry said on Sunday.

All other teachers and staff members, such as secretaries, janitors and consultants, will be later vaccinated at medical centres across the country.

The news website Ynet reported that the Ministry's target is to complete the vaccination campaign in the education system by Friday.

Israel began its Covid-19 vaccination drive on December 20, 2020.

About 72 per cent of those aged 60 and over were already vaccinated.

Three weeks after receiving the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday received the second at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv.

Netanyahu is the first Israeli to receive both doses of the vaccine.