CAIRO / BEIRUT (Reuters) – Jordan’s health minister said on Saturday that the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program will begin within days.
The state news agency Nathir Obeidat said the release would begin on Wednesday after the first bags of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine were expected to arrive on Monday. A supply of the vaccine developed by the Chinese National Pharmaceutical Agency (Sinopharm) would also come on Saturday night.
Jordan had announced on January 3 that it had entered into a contract with Pfizer and its partner BioNTech to purchase 1 million doses of their vaccine and a further 2 million doses from the World Health Organisation’s COVAX program, which aims to to people in poor and middle income countries.
Obeidat has previously stated that the government plans to roll out a free inclusion program to more than 20 percent of the country’s 10 million population.
The vaccination program will prioritize the elderly, those with basic conditions and workers in the health sector, the minister said Saturday.
The government had reached a first understanding with AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson for their vaccines, he said.
Jordan, which has seen a dramatic reduction in infections since a second wave peaked in November when there were around 60 deaths per day, recorded 305,959 cases on Saturday, with 4,009 deaths.
Reporting by Nayera Abdallah in Cairo and Maha El Dahan in Beirut; Edited by Peter Graff and Mike Harrison