Israel has started COVID-19 vaccination for all teachers and other educational workers, the Ministry of Education of Israel said Sunday.

The Israeli education system has more than 203,000 employees, who have daily contact with more than 2.4 million pupils when there is no lockdown.

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

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

The news website Ynet reported that the Ministry's target is to complete the vaccination campaign in the education system by January 16.

Israel began its COVID-19 vaccination on December 20, 2020. About 72 percent of those aged 60 and over were already vaccinated.