Doha: As the COVID-19 vaccination campaign begins today in Qatar, a senior official at the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has re-assured that the vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech is safe and has passed all regulatory approvals.
Head of vaccination at MoPH, Dr. Soha Al Bayat has said that the vaccine has been proven to be safe. “It has been proven to be safe and the side effects are normal, nothing critical or dangerous. The vaccine has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and many ministries of health around the world,” she said in a video message posted on social media by MoPH.
“The UK has already started the vaccination, and so far no serious side effects were noted. Take the vaccine to protect yourself and the loved ones,” said Dr. Al Bayat.
READ MORE: Qatar begins administering Covid-19 vaccine
She emphasised that the COVID-19 vaccine by Pfizer and BioNTech has passed all protocols and regulatory approvals.
“Many are wondering if the vaccine is safe since it was developed so fast. The answer is that it is safe. There was no bypassing of any of the usual steps taken in developing a vaccine, no bypassing of the safety tests.
“The reason that this vaccine was developed in such a short time is one the foundation for the vaccine and the platform pre existed. They did not have to start from zero. Usually when a vaccine is developed they do steps one after the other. This time they did all steps in parallel to save time. The most important thing is that usually financing the manufacture of vaccine takes a long time. But the world came together this time, all participated in funding for manufacturing of the vaccine,” said Dr. Al Bayat.
The MoPH approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use in Qatar and the first batch of vaccine arrived in the country on Monday.
In the first phase of vaccination from December 23 to January 31, preference will be given to people over 70 years of age, 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.
Patients who have been selected will be contacted by phone/SMS to advise them of their selection for the vaccine and invited to attend an appointment at one of the seven designated health centres.
