Saudi Arabia: First batch of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine arrives

Dubai: Saudi Arabia received the first batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday morning.

Dr. Tawfiq Al Rabiah, Minister of Health, announced the arrival of the vaccine shipment. “I am pleased to inform everyone, citizens and expatriates, about the arrival of the first batch of the coronavirus vaccine this morning, and I hope that it will be the beginning of an end to the crisis,” he said.

The vaccine will be provided to both citizens and expatriate residents for free, and at the earliest possible opportunity,” the minister said at the 2021 Saudi Budget Forum.

Al Rabiah said the early preparations made by the ministry, with the support of the leadership, have contributed significantly to containing the pandemic.

He lauded the compliance of citizens and expatriates as well as companies to implement the precautionary measures and preventive protocols, saying that this has been instrumental in bringing down the number of coronavirus infections in the Kingdom.

The ministry said more than 150,000 have registered via “Sehhaty” (My Health) application to take the vaccine, since the launch of the registration on Tuesday.

The ministry urged everyone to speed up registration in order to preserve their health and safety and protect themselves from being infected by the coronavirus.

On Tuesday, the ministry announced the start of registration for the coronavirus vaccine for all citizens and expatriates in the Kingdom. They can register, through the ministry’s app “Sehhaty” by visitning http://onelink.to/yjc3nj.

The ministry confirmed the safety and efficacy of the vaccine after effective passage of the vaccine testing phases, and the successful tests showed its strong immune response and antibodies in those who received trial shots.