Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Saeedi, Minister of Health said that the Sultanate will receive a consignment of 15,600 doses of Pfizer on Thursday this week, while a second consignment of 28,000 doses is scheduled to arrive by early January 2021.

He said that with effect from next Sunday, the Sultanate will begin to apply Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19.

His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik is in close contact with the Supreme Committee and the technical team entrusted with updates on the pandemic, said the minister in a statement made to Oman TV.

The Sultanate is among the first countries that joined the GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation) and has booked 10 percent of its required stock through the GAVI, the minister said.

He added that viruses in general and the RNA viruses, in particular, mutate fast. More than 4,000 mutations of COVID-19 have been registered since it first began to propagate, he explained.

Dr. Ahmed stressed that, so far, no evidence corroborates the claim that the new variant of COVID-19 is more fierce or more dangerous than the mother virus. He emphasized that the available vaccines will have the same response to the mother virus.

The minister reiterated that the Health Ministry prioritized target groups that are eligible to the doses during the first phase, noting that these groups include patients suffering chronic diseases and the medical staff.

Dr. Ahmed explained that the decisions of the Supreme Committee are well-studied and based on the epidemiological situation and recommendations submitted to the technical team. The Committee’s decision to impose a ban on travel yesterday came as a precautionary measure, since it is not possible to decide in which country the new strain of COVID-19 is spreading.

The minister credited the decline in cases of infection with COVID-19 in the Sultanate to the high level of awareness among citizens and residents and their commitment to precautionary measures. No indications now warrant the closure of any part of the Sultanate, said the minister, who confirmed the ongoing epidemiological monitoring of the situation in the Sultanate. If ever the Supreme Committee decides any lockdown anywhere in the Sultanate, that will be in limited areas, said Dr. Ahmed.

He pointed that imported cases of infection were very high, constituting 60% of the registered cases.

SOURCE: TIMESOFOMAN