JERUSALEM, April 19 (Reuters) - Israel signed a deal to buy millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc through 2022, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday (Apr 19).

The new vaccinations will be suitable to protect people against different variants of the coronavirus, Netanyahu said in a statement.

He said he hopes to sign a similar deal to purchase the Moderna vaccine.

"This means that very soon we will have more than enough vaccines, both for adults and children," he said.

Late on Monday, Israel's Walla news website reported that Israel signed a deal with Moderna as well, although officials were not immediately reachable to confirm the report.

With about 81 per cent of citizens or residents over 16 - the age group eligible for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in Israel - having received both doses, infections and hospitalisations are down sharply.