18 Dec

Saudi Arabia's state-run media has reported that inoculation of people in the kingdom with a COVID-19 vaccine began on Thursday.

It said a temporary facility in the capital, Riyadh, was open to the media, and that health minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah was among those to receive an injection.

Reuters said Saudi Arabia was using the vaccine developed jointly by the US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech.

The country's health ministry has said that it will provide the vaccine free of charge to its citizens and foreign residents. But it has not disclosed details such as how many doses it has secured.

Oil-producing Arab Gulf states are working to rebuild their economies which are hugely affected by low crude oil prices. They want travel with other countries to resume as soon as possible and are rushing to implement widespread vaccinations.

nhk