More than half the population of Saudi Arabia has now received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, the Health Ministry said on Sunday, as the kingdom passed 500,000 cases of the virus.
More than 19.5 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered, the ministry said.
Saudi Arabia’s Food and Drug Authority on Friday approved the use of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine in the kingdom.
It is the latest vaccine to be authorised after those made by Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca-Oxford and Johnson & Johnson.
Other than the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, all others require two doses to provide maximum protection against the coronavirus, although studies show some level of protection after the first shot.
Infections are increasing in the kingdom with an additional 1,177 new cases confirmed on Saturday, bringing the country's total to 500,083.
A total 7,963 people in Saudi Arabia have died with Covid-19, with 16 deaths on Saturday.
On Saturday, a Saudi Arabian citizen who contracted Covid-19 in Indonesia was flown to Riyadh on a special military medical evacuation aircraft at the request of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Defence Ministry reported.
