Coronavirus: Saudi Arabia to be among first countries to get vaccine: Report

Riyadh - Deputy health minister Al Asiri says Kingdom is primed to get any top vaccine that passes final tests.

Saudi Arabia will be among the first countries in the G20 and worldwide to secure good quantities of safe and effective coronavirus vaccines.

Saudi Gazette reported that Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Abdullah Al Asiri, made this pledge in a national television interview.

The newspaper said Al Asiri said that Saudi Arabia is working on a plan that guarantees access to a batch of internationally approved vaccines.

He said that this batch will include all major Covid-19 vaccines that have reached the final phases of trials.

Al Asiri added that the Kingdom had already signed a contract with an elite group to secure any vaccine that passes any final tests.

He added: "There is also another path through which the Kingdom is working to obtain approved vaccines, and that is through direct contracts between Saudi Arabia and promising companies whose vaccines have reached an advanced level in clinical trials."

However, he cautioned that the vaccines won't have any tangible impact on the virus before mid-2021.

He said even if two vaccines materialise before the end of 2020 for emergency use worldwide, it will take several months to distribute the vaccine among Saudi's population.

• Saudi Arabia