Qatar has now lowered the Covid-19 vaccination eligibility age to 35.
More than 35.5% of adults in Qatar have now received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccination, the Ministry of Public Health announced on Sunday.
— وزارة الصحة العامة (@MOPHQatar) April 18, 2021
More than 168,453 doses were administered nationwide in the last week alone, authorities said, bumping the total number of doses given since the start of the programme in December to 1,248,229.
The weekly report also confirms more than 82.8% of people above the age of 60 have received at least one dose of the vaccine since late December, with 67.5% completing the vaccine course.
For those aged 70 and older, 80.1% have received at least one dose while the number for those above the the age of 80 now stands at 78.4%.
Qatar launched its inoculation campaign at the end of December but has in recent weeks ramped up and accelerated all efforts to protect the community amid a more severe second Covid-19 wave.
Recent statistics rank Qatar as ninth worldwide for its rate of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered per person.
The ranking accounts for the total number of vaccination doses administered per 100 people in the total population. It specifically looks at single doses, not the total number of people that have been fully vaccinated, according to Our World In Data.
In the Gulf region, Qatar ranks third with 40.24 per 100, coming in shortly after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, with 93.8 and 59.28 respectively.
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However, despite all efforts, the country is facing an alarming number of positive cases, hospital admissions and deaths.
Currently, Qatar has 22,228 active Covid-19 cases and has recorded 382 deaths since the pandemic started last year—a number that has increased drastically in recent weeks.
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