New Covid-19 vaccination centre opens in Qatar's Industrial Area

Qatar’s newest Covid-19 vaccination centre is set to open in the Industrial Area on Monday.

Qatar opened a new Covid-19 vaccination centre located at the old Medical Commission facility in the Industrial Area as part of efforts to drastically increase the number of those protected against the novel coronavirus.

The centre is a collaboration between the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and Qatar Charity, and is the newest addition to more than 35 vaccination facilities across Qatar.

The centre will be open for six days a week, from 7am to 7pm and will operate on an invitation only basis for priority groups. This includes those aged 40 years and above, people with moderate chronic medical conditions, and essential workers.

The opening comes as Qatar’s health ministry confirms almost 30% of eligible adults (aged 16 and above) have received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

Last week, Qatar administered its millionth vaccine, and the MoPH’s vaccine report showed that 168,925 doses being given in the last week alone.

The figures mean that one in four adults has received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Health ministry data also shows that 79.8% of those over 60, 78.3% of those over 70, and 77.2% of those over 80 have now received at least one dose of the jab.

This ensures a significant proportion of the most at-risk members of Qatar’s population are protected against the virus, according to health authorities.

Read also: Qatar administers ‘one millionth Covid-19 vaccine dose’

In March, the Chair of the National Health Strategic Group on Covid-19 and Head of Infectious Diseases at Hamad Medical Corporation Dr. Abdullatif Al Khal said Qatar aimed to vaccinate 90% of the population by the end of the year.

The country’s national vaccination campaign has continued to accelerate as daily Covid-19 infection and death rates increase alarmingly. Last week, authorities reimposed strict restrictions in a bid to flatten the curve.

Meanwhile in the US, Pfizer and BioNTech submitted a request to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday to expand the emergency use authorisation of their Covid-19 vaccine.

If approved, this would expand global inoculation programmes and enable those aged 12 to 15 to receive the injection.

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