Manama: The COVID-19 vaccine will be provided free of charge for all citizens and residents in Bahrain, official news agency BNA reported on Thursday.
In a meeting of Government Executive committee chaired by Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, announced that in line with King’s directives, a safe vaccine will be provided free of charge to all citizens and residents within the Kingdom, it said.
The report said that distribution of the vaccine will be done through 27 medical centres.
Several plans were discussed in the meeting. The vaccine will be given to people over 18 years of age. There are plans to vaccinate five thousand people per day and aims to expand to 10,000 vaccinations per day.
The executive committee didn’t mention any particular vaccine.
Earlier on December 4, Bahrain granted an emergency use authorisation for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine against COVID-19.
The National Health Regulatory Authority (NHRA) confirmed approving the vaccine that followed a study conducted by the regulator and the Health Ministry’s Inoculation Committee based on data from Pfizer on effectiveness and safety of its vaccine.
Bahrain has started inoculating frontline workers with a Chinese state-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopharm vaccine in November last month.
Bahrain’s Health Minister Faeqa bint Saeed Al Saleh said last month that the use of the vaccine complies with the country’s regulations on exceptional licensing in emergency cases.
Phase I and Phase II clinical trials showed the vaccine is safe and effective, she said, adding that Phase III trials were going smoothly and without serious side effects.
According to reports, around 7,770 people have so far volunteered in the 3rd Phase trials in Bahrain and have received a second dose.
