AMMAN — A nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign began on Wednesday with elderly people and healthcare workers given priority for the jabs.  

 

A total of 29 vaccination centres across the Kingdom began receiving people as of Wednesday morning with health officials saying that around 5,000 people will be vaccinated daily as per the campaign's first phase.

 

The first to receive the vaccine in the country was retired Lt. Gen.  Dawood Hanania, former director of the Royal Medical Services. In remarks to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Hanania urged Jordanians to take the jab, saying it is safe and accredited by international research centres.  

 

Health Minister Nathir Obeidat was quoted in the Jordan News Agency,Petra, as saying that the vaccination programme was progressing smoothly, adding that the elderly and healthcare workers to be given priority for the vaccine.  

 

The government has launched an online registration platform for people to register for vaccination. Brig. Gen. Mazen Faraiah, head of the coronavirus cell at the National Centre for Security and Crisis Management, said Wednesday that 68,000 people will be vaccinated as part of the campaign's first phase, adding that a total of 201.144 people have already registered to take the jab. 

 

Jordan received earlier this week the first shipments of the China-UAE Sinopharm vaccine and the US-German Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

 

During a press conference on Sunday, Obeidat said that the amounts of contracted COVID-19 vaccines are enough for 20 per cent of the Kingdom’s population, urging everyone to register and get vaccinated.

 

An 88-year-old woman received the first shot of the coronavirus vaccine in Aqaba, following the arrival of the China-UAE Sinopharm and the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines earlier this week. 

 

Director of Aqaba Health Directorate Saeb Hiyasat said that the medical personnel in the port city began administarting the shots to citizens at 9:00am, adding that vaccination campaign will be of “immeasurable” contributions towards restoring normal life.

 

The first one to get vaccinated in Madaba was Abdulmahdi Maayah, 91, who expressed relief after taking the jab, urging citizens to register for the vaccine, Petra reported.

 

Fifteen COVID-19 deaths and 1,122 virus cases were recorded in the Kingdom on Wednesday, increasing the caseload to 310,968, the government announced.

 

The new fatalities took the Kingdom’s coronavirus death toll to 4,091, according to a joint statement issued by the Prime Ministry and the Ministry of Health.