RIYADH — The Ministry of Health has announced that 40% of the Kingdom's population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines from the beginning of the vaccination campaign till Sunday (May 30). The Assistant Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health for Preventive Health and Consultant in Contagious Diseases Dr. Abdullah Asiri said on his Twitter account: "40 out of every 100 people in the Kingdom have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines to date." The Ministry said that more than 13.9 million COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered across 587 sites to date. The Ministry has decided to postpone giving second doses of the vaccines to beneficiaries on April 10 to speed up the tempo to reach the largest number of individuals in society who have taken the first dose and raise the level of immunity. The second dose of vaccine is still available for people over the age of 60 and above in all vaccination centers. The government of Saudi Arabia aims to complete the nationwide coronavirus vaccination campaign before the end of 2021. Saudi Arabia launched the COVID-19 vaccination drive on Dec. 17, 2020, after the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) approved the registration of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. In the campaign, the priority was given to three categories: people over the age of 65; those suffering from chronic diseases, and those whose nature of work requires being on the front lines to confront the epidemic just like workers in the health sector. The first vaccination center was opened in Riyadh and later centers were opened in Jeddah, Dammam, Madinah, and Makkah. With the second phase of the vaccination that started on Feb. 18, citizens and expatriates are receiving free vaccine shots in all regions of the Kingdom. Oxford-AstraZeneca, the second vaccine that was approved by SFDA, is also being administered at these centers.
