A coronavirus vaccine center was launched in Jeddah on Thursday, becoming Saudi Arabia's second inoculation facility after Riyadh.
The center is at King Abdulaziz Airport's southern terminal. It has been designed to receive large numbers of people; in an organized way through 84 clinics managed by specialist medical staff.
Other sites within the province will be equipped to serve as vaccination centers. The center in Riyadh currently has 550 clinics. The president of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), Abdulhadi Al-Mansouri; expressed his gratitude to the Saudi leadership for providing the necessary health care to maintain the safety of citizens and residents.
"At the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak; our leadership urged all government agencies, the Ministry of Health and all relevant entities to join all efforts in order to face this crisis," he said.
"GACA harnessed its potential, facilities and efforts to curb the spread of the virus in the Kingdom. This project that we are launching in collaboration with the Ministry of Health is an extension of unified participatory action."
He confirmed the southern terminal was ready in order to start receiving people wanting to take the vaccine; and that all necessary planse place in cooperation with the ministry to ensure the process went ahead in line with precautionary measures.
"The southern terminal was chosen to serve as a vaccination center that have logistical criteria and on basic data; the most important of which is the large area and location, which is typical for the majority of the population of Jeddah governorate."
The Ministry of Health advised Saudis and expats to register via the Sehaty app to take the free vaccine in order to preserve their health and safety.
It stressed that the vaccine's safety and efficacy; had confirmation because it had passed the test stages; and that it provoked a strong antibody response, a positive sign that it generated immunity.
It also called upon everyone to contact the 937 Health Center about the virus, adding that information should come from official sources and for people to avoid being led by rumors about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.
Health Minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah said that vaccination centers would soon launch in all regions.
"In January we will have an expansion in all regions; cities and governorates of the Kingdom, and registration will be through the Sehaty app, where appointments can be made and confirmed for each person via text messages.
He said that this was the "last page on which we aspire to end this pandemic, through vaccination; that will be provided to everyone in the Kingdom, and it is the only and best way to end this pandemic without any consequences."
Dr. Hani Joukhadar, the undersecretary for public health at the Ministry of Health; announced that the country's third vaccination center; would start in the Eastern Province next week.
He said that the number of those registered in the Sehaty app so far exceeded half a million.
Saudi Arabia on Thursday reported 11 new COVID-19-related deaths. The death toll is now 6,159.
There were 189 new cases reported, bringing the total number of cases to 361,725. There are 2,958 active cases, with 380 in a critical condition. According to the ministry, there were 52 new cases in Riyadh, 38 in Makkah, and 32 in Madinah.
A further 190 patients also recovered from coronavirus, increasing the number of recoveries to 352,608.
More than 10.78 million PCR tests have been carried out, with 34,698 taking place in the past 24 hours.
