Muscat: The Ministry of Health has officially launched a COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Musandam Governorate that will include citizens and residents above 18 years of age.
Dr. Ahmed bin Muhammad Al Saeedi, Oman’s Minister of Health, who announced the launch of the campaign, said that laboratory tests for COVID-19 were available for free to all residents of the Wilayat of Madha in the Musandam Governorate upto 4 times a year.
He indicated that the reason for allocating this facility especially to Musandam Governorate is due to its geographical location that isolates it from the rest of Oman and also due to extensive movement of the people of the governorate to neighbouring countries.
The Minister indicated that the campaign targets about 16,500 people and is expected to last for two weeks, adding that more than two thousand people have been vaccinated in the governorate. This makes Musandam one of the highest in terms of vaccination rate among the target group of the national immunisation campaign.
Target groups
He pointed out that the coverage rate in the Sultanate for the most vulnerable target groups, who are over 65 years of age and have chronic diseases, reached 95 per cent. He also informed that the turnout for the 60-year-old is not as expected, and awareness campaigns have been intensified as a result.
The total number of people in the Sultanate that received the vaccination is about 98,000, with most from the target groups, said Dr Saeedi adding that the main factor in the lack of vaccinations in Oman is not due to the financial situation or communication with manufacturers, but rather due to the difficulty of companies producing enough vaccines for the world.
