AMMAN: Jordan has ordered one million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech novel coronavirus vaccine, with the first shipment expected at the end of January or early February, the health minister said Monday.
Jordan has recorded 289,748 cases of the COVID-19 disease, including 3,778 deaths, and the numbers continue to rise daily.
“Jordan will receive one million vaccines from Pfizer-BionNTech in instalments from January or early February,” said Health Minister Nazir Obeidat in remarks carried by the state-run Petra news agency.
He said the country was seeking to make vaccines available to more than 20 percent of the 11 million-strong population, “which means to suffice for 2.2 million citizens.”
Jordan announced in mid-December that it had approved emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, adding that talks were underway with other pharmaceutical firms.
Last week, Jordan launched a website for those wishing to be vaccinated to register to obtain the jab, on condition that they be front line health workers, over 60 or suffering from chronic health conditions.
The announcement comes days after authorities arrested journalist Jamal Haddad over an online article alleging the coronavirus vaccine had already arrived in the Middle Eastern country and that officials had received the jab.
Haddad was accused of “endangering public security and causing sedition and public disorder,” a judicial source told AFP on Saturday.
He was to be detained 15 days while awaiting trial over the article titled “What about the people? Did Pfizer arriver in secret, and have senior officials in the Jordanian government been vaccinated.”
Jordan to get 1 mln Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses: health minister
https://arab.news/2dyqj
Jordan to get 1 mln Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses: health minister
- Jordan has recorded 289,748 coronavirus cases and 3,778 deaths
- Kingdom is seeking to make vaccines available to more than 20% of population
Israel agrees to ‘limited reopening’ of Rafah crossing: PM’s office
- The announcement came after visiting US envoys reportedly pressed Israeli officials to reopen the crossing, a vital entry point for aid into Gaza
JERUSALEM: Israel said Monday it would allow a “limited reopening” of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt once it had recovered the remains of the last hostage in the Palestinian territory.
The announcement came after visiting US envoys reportedly pressed Israeli officials to reopen the crossing, a vital entry point for aid into Gaza.
Reopening Rafah forms part of a Gaza truce framework announced by US President Donald Trump in October, but the crossing has remained closed after Israeli forces took control of it during the war.
The Israeli military also said it was searching a cemetery in the Gaza Strip on Sunday for the remains of the last hostage, Ran Gvili, a non-commissioned officer in the police’s elite Yassam unit.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the reopening would depend on “the return of all living hostages and a 100 percent effort by Hamas to locate and return all deceased hostages,” Netanyahu’s office said on X.
It said Israel’s military was “currently conducting a focused operation to exhaust all of the intelligence that has been gathered in the effort to locate and return” Gvili’s body.
“Upon completion of this operation, and in accordance with what has been agreed upon with the US, Israel will open the Rafah Crossing,” it said.
