COVID-19: Saudi Arabia to be among first countries in world to get vaccine

Cairo: Saudi Arabia will be among the first countries in the world to obtain a vaccine against the coronavirus, according to a Saudi health official.

“We will be among the first G20 countries or at the world level to obtain good quantities of a safe and effective vaccine,” the assistant undersecretary for preventive health at the Saudi Health Ministry Dr Abdullah Assiri added without giving specific figures.

He expected that at least three vaccines will have been approved for emergency use against COVID-19 in the world before the end of the year. “Their availability and delivery to people may take several months,” he told Saudia TV Wednesday night.

“May be we cannot say that the vaccine has started making an actual impact on the trajectory of the pandemic until after mid-2021,” Dr Assiri added.

Saudi Arabia so far has registered a tally of 351,849 infection cases and 5,590 fatalities.