Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Health (MoH) on Wednesday said it has administered more than 16.8 million vaccine doses covering 70 percent of the total adult population in Saudi Arabia, a key milestone as the Kingdom progresses toward a full recovery from the pandemic, according to the Saudi Gazette.
The positive news for Saudi officials comes as the Kingdom’s National Scientific Committee for Infectious Diseases has also given its approval for using different COVID-19 vaccines for the first and second dose, the MOH said in a statement on its Twitter account on Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia has so far administered more than 16.8 million vaccine doses through 587 vaccination centers across the Kingdom, covering 70 percent of the total adult population in Saudi Arabia.
Still, daily new cases in Saudi Arabia reached at 10-month high this week. Saudi Arabia on Tuesday recorded the highest single-day total of new COVID-19 cases since Aug. 13, 2020, Arab News reports. Authorities in the Kingdom reported an additional 1,479 infections, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 476,882. Of these, 11,131 remain active and 1,487 patients are in critical condition.
Despite successes in administering the vaccine, and providing both carrots for those who get jabs and sticks for those who have not, those in Saudi Arabia who are refusing to get vaccinated pose a challenge. This month, only vaccinated or immunized citizens were allowed to travel abroad after the kingdom lifted a ban on overseas trips introduced last year at the start of the pandemic, and starting in August, vaccinations will be mandatory to enter government and private establishments, including educational institutions and entertainment venues, as well as to use public transport.
Saudi Arabia’s MOH, in announcing the latest figures, “once again sought to dispel all rumors over the safety of the vaccines as the vaccination campaign continues in full swing,” the Saudi Gazette reports. The MOH reiterated that coronavirus vaccines are safe, effective and necessary for protection, and that vaccines provide protection against COVID-19 and prevent virus-related deaths with a 100 percent success rate.
But vaccine skeptics in the Kingdom, like elsewhere around the world, remain, and threaten the world’s ability to be fully rid of the Coronavirus and its evolving variants.
Already, Saudi Arabia has announced yet another scaled-back Hajj in 2021 as it puts safety first for visitors and pilgrims to the Kingdom. Only those who are vaccinated may participate.
As of June 24, more than 319 million doses have been administered in the United States, fully vaccinating over 150 million people or 45.4% of the total U.S. population, according to an official data tracking page from NPR.
