In Saudi Arabia, nearly 300,000 people have received the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the health ministry.
The Ministry spokesman Dr. Mohammed Al-Abd Al-Aly said, “The vaccine is the key and the strong weapon that will make us healthy.”
He also said citizens and residents who have a valid national identity number or residence number are eligible to receive the vaccine through the “Sehaty” application.
Al-Abd Al-Aly also said that no side effects of the vaccine have been detected so far.
“The indicators of recording confirmed cases, recoveries and critical cases in the Kingdom are moving toward positivity and decline,” he told reporters.
Saudi Arabia started its inoculation campaign on December 17, 2020 and was the first Arab country to use the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Furthermore, Saudi Arabia confirmed 176 new cases on Sunday, raising the total to 364,929 cases, of which 1,919 are active cases still receiving medical care, and 319 critical cases.
The Kingdom also confirmed five deaths related to the virus in the previous 24 hours and 146 recoveries.
Al-Abd Al-Aly added that centers and facilities affiliated with the Ministry of Health are continuing to provide health services, including conducting tests and examinations, across the Kingdom.
Moreover, Madinah residents have started receiving coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccinations at a newly opened center.
The vaccines were launched at the Nujood Medical Center at a hospital named after the late Nujood Al-Khaibari, a nurse who passed away due to complications after contracting COVID-19 while on duty.
The center — which was launched by Madinah Governor Prince Faisal bin Salman last July — also received the governor and deputy governor, who were given their first doses.
Fifty clinics have been designated to receive patients and over 1 million of the Kingdom’s residents have registered to receive the inoculation.
Meanwhile, the rollout program in Jeddah’s vaccine center has increased and no waiting period is currently required.
People arriving on time are directed to clinics to receive either their first or second dose, which is followed by a short period to ensure that all is well following their inoculations. In total, the process takes less than 20 minutes according to many who have received the vaccine so far.
Approximately 300,000 people have been inoculated since the first phase of the vaccine rollout program kicked off in December 2020.
“The vaccination is an important tool, the more members of the community receiving it, the quicker we’ll reach herd immunity, enough so to return to our normal lives,” said Ministry of Health spokesman Dr. Mohammed Al-Abd Al-Aly in a press conference.
Al-Aly also warned that it is important that people continue to adhere to social distancing measures in order to reach optimal herd immunity and reduce all chances of another wave.
“Our adherence is our strongest feat and we have successfully gone through the challenging stages up to this point.”
Saudi Arabia reported 176 new confirmed of COVID-19 recently, raising the total number of cases to 364,929. The Riyadh region reported the highest cases with 62 cases, Makkah followed with 34 cases and the Eastern Province reported 32 cases.
There are currently 1,919 active cases in the Kingdom, 319 of which are in critical care. Al-Aly said the decline in cases is stable, with a 96.4 percent decrease since the peak in mid-June. Critical cases are also maintaining a decline with an 86.2 percent drop.
There were 146 new recoveries, raising the total number of recoveries to 356,687. Five people have passed away due to complications from the infection. The Kingdom’s total number of mortalities is 6,323 since the start of the pandemic.
