Tel Aviv, July 7  Israel has vaccinated 131,000 teenagers between 12 to 15 years, or 23.1 per cent of the age category, against coronavirus since June 6, the Health Ministry said.

Meanwhile, 88 per cent of people above 50 years and over in Israel, or about 2.16 million in this age group, have been vaccinated, reports Xinhua news agency.

To date, 5.66 million in Israel have received the Pfizer vaccine, accounting for 60.7 percent of the total population, the Ministry announced on Tuesday.

The vaccination campaign in Israel began on December 20, 2020, with the first phase targeting medical staff, people aged over 65, and chronic patients.

Since then, the age of eligibility has been gradually lowered.

On Monday, the Ministry said the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine had dropped to 64 per cent between June 6 and July 3 amid the spread of the Delta variant, compared to 94.3 per cent measured between May 2 and June 5.

Israel has so far registered 843,611 confirmed coronavirus cases and 6,429 deaths.