Riyadh: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on Sunday announced that the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine will be available for all age groups, starting from June 11—Sunday, the country’s ministry of health reported.
“The second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine is now available for all age groups targeted for vaccination by booking an appointment through the Sehhaty application,” the ministry of health announced in a statement.
In mid-April, the Saudi ministry of health announced the postponement of giving the second dose of the vaccine in order to allow the largest possible number of citizens and residents in the Kingdom to be vaccinated.
On July 2, the ministry announced the availability of the second dose of the vaccine for those aged 60 and above in all parts of the Kingdom. Subsequently, the vaccination campaign was expanded to give the second dose to all those aged 50 and above. On July 4, people aged 40 and above were also allowed to take the second shot.
Health minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah said last month that the ministry would start giving the second dose of the vaccine if it was available in large quantities. He stressed the keenness of the Kingdom’s leadership to provide highly effective vaccines.
The ministry, on June 27, confirmed that no deaths were reported among those who have taken the vaccine in Saudi Arabia.
Moderna is the fourth COVID-19 vaccine that has been authorised for use in the Kingdom on July 9. AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, and Johnson & Johnson’s are the other vaccines that have been approved for use in the Kingdom.
So far, 19.7 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, the Kingdom on Sunday announced 13 deaths from COVID-19 and 1,112 new infections.