The King of Saudi Arabia receives the first dose of the vaccine

The King of Saudi Arabia, Salman bin Abdulaziz, has received the first dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine as reported by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA). His son, the Crown Prince and other senior officials are also reported to have received this first dose. 

The King was accompanied by the Saudi Minister of Health, Dr Tawfiq Bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah, who thanked him for his work and support for society in the fight against COVID-19, adding that "his initiative to vaccinate himself is an affirmation of the Kingdom's strategy that prevention is better than cure".

Saudi Arabia was the second Gulf country after Bahrain to approve the use of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine. The Saudis will be vaccinated in three stages depending on the population group they belong to, with around 100,000 people having been vaccinated to date.

The reopening of the borders with Qatar, beyond being good news for the political stability of the Gulf, may be a headache for Riyadh from the health point of view. To prevent transit between the two countries becoming a point of friction owing to the situation caused by the coronavirus, Saudi Arabia has established a health centre on the border with Qatar.

Qataris and all those entering Saudi territory through the Salwa border post must be tested at this centre and then kept in quarantine for three days. They must also sign an undertaking that this quarantine will be carried out.

The United Arab Emirates, and in particular Dubai, is putting a lot of effort into the proper conduct of the vaccination campaign. The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has established a seventh vaccination centre in response to the high demand for immunisation doses.

The Chair of the COVID-19 Vaccination Steering Committee, Dr Farida Al Khaja, has announced that the Al Safa primary care centre will now join the previous six for the supply of Pfizer vaccine.

The country has administered nearly one million doses of two variants of the vaccine, Sinopharm and Pfizer-BioNTech. Dubai aims to have vaccinated 50% of its population by March. The country has the second highest vaccination rate in the world, behind only Israel.