Saudi Arabia: 2nd dose of COVID-19 vaccine for elderly on course

Cairo: People aged 60 years and above in Saudi Arabia will continue to receive their second dose of the vaccine against COVID-19 as scheduled despite an earlier decision to postpone administering the second jab for all categories, local media reported.

Last week, the Saudi Health Ministry said that the second dose of vaccination for those who have already received the first will be postponed starting from April 11 and that related appointments will be all rescheduled. The ministry attributed the rescheduling to a shortage in global supplies of the vaccines.

The ministry later pointed out that the rescheduling will not apply to people aged 60 and above because they are a “priority exception”.

Called off

The appointments given earlier to this age category to receive the second dose will not be called off, the ministry was quoted as saying.

Saudi Arabia initiated mass vaccinations against COVID-10 on December 17. Authorities have offered the vaccination to citizens and foreign residents for free.

More than 7 million doses have since been administered at 587 vaccination centres spread across the kingdom, according to the latest official figures.