Health professionals have attributed the success of the vaccination programme to several factors, including the fact that Israel’s population is relatively small and young. PM Benjamin Netanyahu has taken on the vaccination drive as a personal mission and has taken credit for securing millions of Pfizer and Moderna doses

In Asia, Singapore launched its campaign on Wednesday with the same vaccine.

Other countries on the Asian continent however have decided to take their time: India, Japan and Taiwan plan to begin vaccinations in the first quarter of 2021 and the Philippines and Pakistan in the second quarter, while Afghanistan and Thailand plan to start in mid-2021.

Mary Ramsay, head of immunisations at Public Health England, said this would only happen on extremely rare occasions, and that the government was not recommending the mixing of vaccines, which require at least two doses given several weeks apart.