Qatar started vaccinating its population against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Wednesday, becoming one of only a handful of countries to have rolled out the vaccine against the pandemic.
Dr. Abdullah Al Kubaisi, a 79-year-old retired Qatari academic, was the first to receive the vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech in Qatar. Mohammed Frazat, an 88-year-old Syrian was the second person in Qatar and first expatriate who receive the jab.
The government has announced that the vaccination will be free for all citizens and residents. It has also said that everybody will be able to get the vaccine in 2021. This will be the country’s largest ever vaccination campaign.
Hundreds of citizens and residents have received the first dose of the vaccine over the past two days. People over 70 years of age, healthcare personnel most at risk of COVID-19 infection and people with chronic diseases will get the vaccine during the first phase of vaccination which lasts until January 31. The vaccination is taking place at seven health centres across the country and the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) is directly contacting those eligible for the vaccination in the first phase.
MoPH has worked hard since the early stages of vaccine development at the start of the pandemic to ensure Qatar was among the first countries in the world to get a safe, effective and approved COVID-19 vaccine.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Qatar is using has met all safety and efficacy standards and has been approved for emergency use by regulators in the US, European Union, the UK, Canada, as well as the Ministry of Public Health’s Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Control. The vaccine consists of two shots, given three weeks apart. Though the vaccine is not compulsory, health officials have encouraged everyone to take the shot.
Officials said people will be required to continue taking precautions until about 70 percent of the population is vaccinated against COVID-19. In addition to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, Qatar has also signed an agreement to get the COVID-19 vaccine developed by US biotech firm Moderna, which has already been approved by the US authorities for emergency use.
The vaccination campaign comes after preventive and precautionary measured put in place by Qatar successfully contained the pandemic. Qatar’s effective response has seen a steady fall in the new virus cases in recent months. There are only 1,958 currently active COVID-19 cases in the country with over 140,000 recovered cases. Qatar has also maintained one of the world’s lowest mortality rates from COVID-19.
