RIYADH — More than 53 percent of the Saudi population have so far received vaccines against coronavirus, with over 22.5 million doses of vaccine administered since the start of vaccination on December 15, 2020, until July 18, 2021 (Sunday). With the vaccination campaign underway in full swing, Saudi Arabia is expected to achieve herd immunity against COVID-1 after 70 percent of the population receives two doses of vaccines within less than two and a half months (70 days). The time frame is based on the calculation of 369,000 doses of the vaccine administered daily. At present, the administration of coronavirus vaccines through 587 vaccination centers across the Kingdom has reached more than 497,000 doses on a daily basis. The daily vaccine administration, in the beginning, was around 40,000 doses when the national vaccination campaign started last December. But the pace of distribution of vaccines has accelerated since Feb. 25. The acceleration comes in the face of the looming deadline for mandatory immunization for anyone seeking to attend any social, economic, commercial, cultural, scientific, entertainment or sports event from Aug. 1 The Ministry of Health has regularly been calling on all the people in the Kingdom, including citizens, expatriates and even illegals, to register their names on Sehhaty application to obtain the vaccine free of charge at the earliest. The vaccines that have been approved in the Kingdom are Pfizer, Oxford-AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson and Moderna. The ministry is currently offering the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines through the vaccine centers around the clock. As for Johnson & Johnson and Moderna vaccines, they have got the ministry's approval for use mainly outside the Kingdom. According to the ministry statistics, the total number of coronavirus infections in the Kingdom on Monday stood at 510,869 and the number of recoveries reached 492,149, while the total number of deaths resulted from complications caused by the virus was 8,089. The ministry called for the continued application of precautionary measures after taking the vaccine, such as wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing. It also noted that the vaccine contributes significantly to reducing infection, but does not prevent it, especially since the epidemic is still emerging in the form of new mutated variants.
