JEDDAH: 19, JANUARY, 2021: The Saudi Health Ministry has approved two more COVID-19 vaccines, developed by AstraZeneca and Moderna, for use in the country. 

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is already being used to immunize people in the Kingdom.

Ibrahim Al-Oraifi, director general of health affairs in the Eastern Province, "here is global competition for available supplies of vaccines, and that the demand for the Pfizer vaccine is "great." 

However, Saudi authorities have secured good quantities and vaccination efforts are being stepped up, he added. 

Al-Oraifi further said, "There is an increase in the number of workers in vaccine centers in the Kingdom as they gain good experience, where the workflow became faster and larger with the expansion of the reception halls for the vaccine recipients." 

He informed that a vaccination center in Al-Ahsa is ready to open just waiting for the delivery of vaccines. 

"We will start within a week or two," he said, adding that "Meanwhile work is underway to equip the Hafar Al-Batin center, which is expected to start operating next month." 

As per statistics, about 400,000 people in the Eastern Province have registered through the ministry's Sehhaty health services app to receive vaccinations, and about 60,000 people have already been inoculated, he informed while over 2 million people registered for the vaccine in the first month after the registration process was launched, he added. 

According to sources, the Ministry of Health is currently receiving 100,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine a week, aims to reach at least 80pc immunity among the population through vaccination. 

The number of coronavirus cases in Saudi Arabia has risen to 365,099 after 170 more infections were reported while the death toll jumped to 6,329 after six fatalities in a single day whereas 317 patients are in critical condition and 356,848 patients have been recuperated. (04)