Saudi Arabia to introduce two more vaccines to boost campaign

AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines approved in addition to Pfizer-BioNTech shot as government aims to inoculate 70 per cent of population in 2021

A Saudi physician prepares to inject thePfizer-BioNTech vaccine at a coronavirus vaccination centre at Jeddah's old airport. AP

Saudi Arabia's health ministry approved the AstraZeneca and Moderna vaccines to speed up Covid-19 inoculations in the country.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is already being used in the kingdom.

The government aims to inoculate 70 per cent of the population this year, Ibrahim Al Oraifi, health director for the Eastern Province, said on Tuesday.

So far, 400,000 people in the Eastern Province alone have registered through the national Sehhaty health services app and an estimated 60,000 people have been vaccinated.

Mr Al Oraifi said they are preparing to receive the two new vaccines approved this week, and the government was opening new vaccination centres.

“We will start within a week or two. Meanwhile work is under way to equip the Hafar Al Batin centre, which is expected to start operating next month,” he said.

He said a new centre in Dhahran in the Eastern Province was vaccinating up to 1,500 people a day with 48 health practitioners working nine-hour shifts.

With more healthcare workers joining vaccine centres, Mr Al Oraifi said the “workflow became faster and larger with the expansion of the reception halls for the vaccine recipients”.

The kingdom is receiving 100,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine every week. That number is expected to increase as global production is bolstered.

The drug maker will supply Saudi Arabia with one million doses by the end of February and then three million by the end of May.

Saudis are greeted by a health worker as they enter the coronavirus vaccination centre at the Jeddah old airport in Saudi Arabia. AP Photo

New coronavirus cases crossed the 200-mark for the first time in more than a month on Tuesday with 226 infections reported.

This brings the total number of confirmed infections in the kingdom to 365,325 and virus-related deaths to 6,335.