Israel will receive an initial shipment of Pfizer Inc coronavirus vaccines on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said, a day earlier than first announced.

Pfizer and its collaborator BioNTech last month agreed to provide Israel with 8 million doses of the vaccine, which Britain became the first country to administer on Tuesday.

The prime minister's office said in a statement Netanyahu would be at Tel Aviv's Ben-Gurion airport when a plane carrying the first shipment of the vaccine lands later on Wednesday. Israeli Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen said earlier this week the first batch of vaccines would arrive in Israel on Thursday to be administered to the elderly and other high-risk populations.

Israeli media reported Wednesday's shipment would be small and used in a trial run to test transportation and storage procedures, while a larger batch containing 110,000 doses would arrive on Thursday. Israel, with a population of 9 million, has reported 347,497 coronavirus cases and 2,925 deaths.

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