The Ministry of Public Health has set up a vaccination scheduling unit to prioritise the vaccination of key service workers against the COVID-19. The move came after the authorities announced gradual lifting of coronavirus restrictions in the country from May 28. The unit will help fast-track vaccination for service providers who are in direct contact with the community such as barbers, retailers, restaurants and hospitality sector. This will help in reopening and lifting restrictions in a safe and effective way.
The country is moving to gradual reopening after successful implementation of the national COVID-19 vaccination programme. Qatar has rolled a fast vaccination campaign using the shots developed by Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech. More than half of Qatar’s total adult population has already received at least one dose of the vaccine, while 738,335 people, or 32.7 percent of adult population, have been fully vaccinated. The country has administered close to 1.9 million doses so far.
Qatar rolled out the vaccine for its migrant workers and foreign residents at the same time it was made available to Qatari citizens. The vaccine is being administered to all adults living in Qatar free of cost. Health authorities have already vaccinated tens of thousands of foreign workers. The new unit will further boost the campaign and help in covering the retail and services sector workers sooner than before.
With around 0.2 million vaccine doses being administered per week, the vaccination programme aims to cover the entire eligible population in coming weeks and months. As per the Ministry of Public Health, Qatar is among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of vaccine coverage of population.
Health officials have also reported encouraging results of the vaccines’ efficacy. Data shared by the ministry shows that only one percent of Covid-related ICU admissions in Qatar were the people fully vaccinated against the infection. Unvaccinated people of all ages are 91 times more likely to be admitted to ICU with COVID-19 than those fully vaccinated. Another study undertaken in Qatar has also shown the vaccines are 89.5 percent effective in preventing infection from the UK variant and 75 percent effective against South African variant. The same study also found vaccination to be 97.4 percent effective in preventing severe, critical, or fatal disease due to both the UK and South African variants.
There is, however, need that all eligible members of community take the vaccine when their turns come, and continue following all the precautions, to achieve full success against the pandemic.
