Saturday 27 / April / 2024
MUSCAT: Badr bin Saif Al Rawahi, Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases Control, has informed that the first batch of vaccines for coronavirus will arrive in Oman on Wednesday.
Dr. Al Rawahi said, “The vaccine that will arrive in the Sultanate is the Pfizer vaccine manufactured using RNA technology. A national programme has been prepared to distribute the vaccine and health workers in all governorates of the Sultanate have been trained on the way of giving the vaccine.”
The Sultanate, represented by the Ministry of Health, sought to create consultative channels with a number of scientific institutions and international organisations, as well as through direct negotiations with a number of companies, and thanks to that, it was among the first countries that were able to obtain the vaccine in 2020.
“The use of the vaccine contributed in the past to the eradication of a number of epidemics, such as smallpox and polio,” he said, adding, “Oman’s strategy for vaccination aims to cover 60 per cent of the population. It is divided into stages. The first stage begins with 20 per cent of the target group due to the limited supply in the current period.”
He explained, “The target groups in the first stage are the groups most vulnerable to contracting the disease, which include front-line workers, people with chronic diseases, elderly, diabetics, people with chronic lung disease, patients with kidney failure, workers in intensive care departments and departments of care for patients with COVID-19.”
Al Rawahi confirmed that the vaccine will consist of two doses with 21 days between them, and vaccination centres will be announced in the coming days.
