Dr. Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani, Director of Public Health at the MoPH
As more COVID-19 vaccine arrives in Qatar, the vaccination campaign will be expanded to cover the whole population, said a senior official at the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH). “The vaccines are arriving in Qatar in larger quantities and gradually the COVID-19 vaccination campaign will be expanded to all,” said Director of Public Health at the MoPH, Dr. Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani.
“Vaccination capacity is expanding and everyone should be ready to receive the vaccine,” he said in a video message posted by the Ministry on its social medial accounts. Dr. Al Thani who received the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine has encouraged everyone to take the vaccine in due course. “After receiving the initial dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, we took the second dose of the vaccine 21 days later.
We advice everyone to remember and get the second dose of the vaccine on time,” he added. Senior officials of the health sector were among first recipients of the Pfizer- BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine since the vaccination campaign started on December 23, 2020.
Among them, Chair of the National Health Strategic Group on COVID-19, Dr. Abdullatif Al Khal, Co-chairperson of the National Pandemic Preparedness Committee and Director of Health Protection and Communicable Diseases at MoPH, Dr. Hamad Eid Al Romaihi, Head of Vaccination at MoPH, Dr. Soha Al Bayat and Medical Director at Communicable Disease Centre, Dr. Muna Al Maslamani have got the second dose of the vaccine on Tuesday.
They have re-emphasized that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective and urged the community to continue to take precautionary measures. “I would like to emphasise that those who got the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine should get the second dose on time.
Even after getting the vaccine people need to follow all safety measures to limit the spread of OCVID-19,” said Dr. Al Maslamani. At present, the first phase of COVID-19 vaccination preference will be given to people over 65 years old, adults in chronic care and home care facilities, healthcare personnel most at risk of infection and people over 16 years of age with severe chronic diseases.
Those eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine will be contacted by the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) for an appointment. PHCC has activated a dedicated hotline number to enable those who are 65 years and over to book, cancel or schedule pre-booked vaccination appointments. The dedicated line 402 7707 is currently available from 7am to 11pm. The first phase of vaccination will continue until January 31
