Covid-19 vaccine: Saudi receives first consignment, over 150,000 register in 24 hours

Saudi Arabia received its first consignment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Wednesday even as the kingdom began the vaccination registration process for citizens and residents.

“I hope that it will be the beginning of the end of the crisis and it will be provided to everyone at the earliest opportunity,” Health Minister Dr. Tawfiq Al-Rabiah told local media.

The vaccine is free for citizens and residents, and the first batch will be distributed over the next three days, he confirmed.

“هذه عينة من اللقاح، سعيدين بتواجدها، وهي بداية لانفراج الأزمة بإذن الله”، #وزير_الصحة الدكتور توفيق الربيعة خلال #ملتقى_الميزانية_2021. @SaudiMOH #التواصل_الحكومي pic.twitter.com/wroMbDmXnQ

— التواصل الحكومي (@CGCSaudi) December 16, 2020

“It will be available free of charge to everyone, but we will give priority to those who need it,” he said.“The priority will be for those over the age of 65, as they are more vulnerable than others to severe infection and death, and those who have chronic diseases, hospital patients, and health practitioners as they deal with the infections.”

Al-Rabiah also assured people that the vaccine is safe to use and urged everyone to take the dose.

The Ministry of Health also confirmed on Wednesday that 150,000 people had registered through its Sehaty app within 24 hours of launching the vaccine rollout process.

The vaccination process is being held in three stages.

The first stage will extend to citizens and residents who are over 65 years old; professionals who are most vulnerable to infection; people who are obese and have a body mass of more than 40; and those who have immune deficiencies such as organ transplantation or take immunosuppressive drugs; those with a history of stroke; and those who have two or more of the following chronic diseases: asthma, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, chronic heart disease including coronary artery disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The second stage targets people who are over 50 years old; the rest of health practitioners; those who have obesity and have a body mass of between 30 – 40; and those who have one of the following chronic diseases: asthma, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, chronic heart diseases including coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and active cancer.

In the last stage, the registration will extend to all citizens and residents who wish to take the vaccine.

Read: Saudi begins registrations for free Covid-19 vaccination for citizens, residents