The government has further expanded the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the country by opening a drive-through vaccination centre. The drive-through centre, which opened in Lusail on Monday, is serving the people who have already received the first dose of the vaccine at one of the 27 heath centres of the Primary Health Care Corporation and are now scheduled for the second jab.
Currently, people over 50 years of age, people with chronic diseases, essential workers, and some priority groups like school teachers are being inoculated against the coronavirus infection. The Ministry of Public Health has said that more than 60% percent of over 70-year-olds have already received at least the first shot of the vaccine since the launch of Qatar’s National COVID-19 Vaccination Program.
Majority of the more vulnerable people have also been covered in the immunisation drive, as more than 90 percent of elderly inpatient at the Hamad Medical Corporation have been inoculated. Health officials hope that as the vaccination drive is expanded and more vaccine supplies arrive, a large section of the population will be able to receive the vaccine in coming months. Qatar is using the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, two of the most safe and effective vaccines developed to date.
Qatar was successful in taming the spread of the virus though aggressive contact tracing and testing, and effective quarantine measures. However, the country has seen an uptick in new cases of the coronavirus in recent weeks. Health Authorities have tested more than 1.5 million people for COVID-19 to date. More than 154,000 people have already fully recovered from the virus, while there are a total of 10,059 currently active cases in the country. The country also recorded a total of 260 deaths from the coronavirus, one of the lowest mortality rates in the world.
Despite the vaccination, health officials have urged the public to remain vigilant against the infection and abide by all the precautionary measures against COVID-19. At the same time, the Ministry of Interior has intensified the efforts to implement COVID-19 preventive measures. MoI teams are ensuring that people comply with all the measures announced by the government, especially wearing facemasks in public and preventing large gatherings. There is also a limit of maximum four people, including the driver, in a car --- except for members of the same family.
MoI has also successfully implemented the quarantine policy for the confirmed and suspected cases of COVID-19, as well as the incoming international passengers.
