COVID-19: When will life in Saudi Arabia return to normal?

Abu Dhabi: A Saudi consultant virologist has suggested that life will return to normal in Saudi Arabia by January 13, 2022, given the current pace of vaccination.

Dr. Bandar Al Osaimi, consultant virologist, said on his Twitter account that Saudi Arabia has administered 14 million doses of vaccines at a rate of one person every 1.7 seconds, although the daily rate of vaccination decreased in May to 152,000 compared to 160,000 in April (possibly due to Ramadan and Eid).

“By January 13, 2022, the percentage of those who received two doses of vaccination will reach 70 per cent of the population, which is sufficient to achieve herd immunity if the daily rate of vaccinations continues to be 152,000 people per day or one person every 1.7 seconds,” Dr. Al Osaimi explained.

More than 1.84 billion vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, equal to 24 doses for every 100 people. There is already a stark gap between vaccination programs in different countries, with some yet to report a single dose.

With vaccinations happening more rapidly in richer Western countries, it will take the world as a whole seven years at the current pace.

The pace is likely to accelerate further as more vaccines become available. Some of the world’s biggest vaccine-manufacturing hubs in India and Mexico are only just getting started. More than 8.5 billion doses of vaccine have been contracted by countries through more than 100 agreements tracked by Bloomberg. Only a third of countries have even begun their vaccination campaigns.