RIYADH — New vaccines will arrive to groups of youngsters under the age of 16 later as these vaccines are now in clinical trials phase, according to Dr. Mazen Hassanain, managing director of the SaudiVax pharmaceuticals company (SVax). He said that those aged below 16 years are excluded from the vaccine administration, since Pfizer did not include them in the clinical trials. Speaking to Al-Ekhbariya news channel, Dr. Hassanain said that some other vaccines would be produced to protect the age groups below 16. "There are several international pharmaceutical companies, which are currently engaged in manufacturing such vaccines. These include Pfizer-BioNTech, which is now carrying out clinical tests to ensure the safety and efficacy of the vaccine to be given to children," he said. Dr. Hassanain said that the COVID-19 vaccine would be distributed first among the categories that are most vulnerable, as defined by the Ministry of Health, in terms of occupation, age, as well as the severity of health cases. "Registration for the vaccine has also started via Tawakkalna application for those who are prioritized to take the vaccine," he said. The Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) approved last Thursday the registration of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in the Kingdom. Dr. Hassanain stressed that strict standards, procedures and requirements are being followed in the case of vaccines to ensure their safety and efficacy. "When the consignments of vaccines arrive in the Kingdom, samples of the product will be re-examined randomly before they are delivered to the Ministry of Health and doctors for distribution. "This is to make sure that all the information mentioned in the reports is the same that came out from the results of the tests that will be performed on the last product," he added.
