Jordan to get 1 mln Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine doses: health minister

A member of the Jordanian health ministry’s epidemiological investigation team takes a random nasal swab to test for coronavirus, from a man leaving the King Abdullah I mosque following the Friday noon prayers, in the capital Amman, on Dec. 18, 2020. (AFP)

• Jordan has recorded 289,748 coronavirus cases and 3,778 deaths
• Kingdom is seeking to make vaccines available to more than 20% of population

AMMAN: Jordan has ordered one million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech novel coronavirus vaccine, with the first shipment expected at the end of January or early February, the health minister said Monday.
Jordan has recorded 289,748 cases of the COVID-19 disease, including 3,778 deaths, and the numbers continue to rise daily.
“Jordan will receive one million vaccines from Pfizer-BionNTech in instalments from January or early February,” said Health Minister Nazir Obeidat in remarks carried by the state-run Petra news agency.
He said the country was seeking to make vaccines available to more than 20 percent of the 11 million-strong population, “which means to suffice for 2.2 million citizens.”
Jordan announced in mid-December that it had approved emergency use of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, adding that talks were underway with other pharmaceutical firms.
Last week, Jordan launched a website for those wishing to be vaccinated to register to obtain the jab, on condition that they be front line health workers, over 60 or suffering from chronic health conditions.
The announcement comes days after authorities arrested journalist Jamal Haddad over an online article alleging the coronavirus vaccine had already arrived in the Middle Eastern country and that officials had received the jab.
Haddad was accused of “endangering public security and causing sedition and public disorder,” a judicial source told AFP on Saturday.
He was to be detained 15 days while awaiting trial over the article titled “What about the people? Did Pfizer arriver in secret, and have senior officials in the Jordanian government been vaccinated.”