AMMAN — Over three and a half
million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been given in Jordan, according to
data from the Ministry of Health.
A total of 2.3 million Jordanians -
around 20 percent of the population - have received their first dose of the
vaccine, and 1.2 million have received both doses and are fully protected
against the virus.
اضافة اعلان
Jordan is currently administering
the Pfizer-BioNTech,
AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Johnson & Johnson, and Sputnik
V vaccines to all residents of the country at no cost.
The milestone comes after the
government introduced a plan to reopen the country after a long year of
closures and restrictions. Many of the reopening measures are contingent on
citizens’ vaccinations; citizens must have received at least the first dose of
the vaccine to go to gyms or cinemas and other closed indoor spaces.
The number of those registered on
the vaccine platform vaccine.jo now exceeds 3.2 million, according to the
Ministry of Health’s statistics. Additionally, 81,995 doses were administered
in the 24 hours prior to the release of the statistics, of which 45,286 were
first doses and 36,709 were second doses.
In media statements,
Secretary-General of the
Ministry of Health for Epidemiology and Communicable
Diseases Affairs and the official in charge of the coronavirus portfolio, Adel
Belbeisi, laid out an ambitious target: that six million people reach community
immunity through either vaccination or surviving the coronavirus by November. A
total of 749,784 cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in the country so far -
who presumably have natural immunity through antibodies from the disease.
Over 40 percent of Jordan’s
population, or over three and a half million people, are under the age of 18,
according to UNICEF. Belbeisi stated that the country is not planning to begin
vaccinating children until all adults have been vaccinated. Instead they are
focusing on the six million target pool of adults eligible for the vaccine.
However, he noted that in the future
the ministry will look into vaccinating children between the ages of 12 and 16.
In the next phase, Belbeisi
explained, the country hopes to administer 4.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses
before September 1st. Then, all curfews and lockdowns in Jordan will be lifted.
The vaccination milestone also comes
as cases of COVID-19 have remained low across Jordan. On Sunday, there were 465
new cases of the virus and nine new deaths. A total of 68 cases were admitted
to hospitals.
Additionally, 90 percent of the
staff of the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities have received their
inoculations. The aggressive vaccination campaign executed by the ministry is
part of a drive to enable a “safe summer” for tourists visiting Jordan.
Today, the government also announced
that citizens over the age of 50 will now be able to receive the vaccine
without a prior appointment at specified health centers throughout the country.
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