BAHRAIN has recorded a new milestone by administering more than one million booster doses of a Covid-19 vaccine to its citizens and residents.
The country has until last night inoculated 1,000,279 people with one booster dose or more of either Pfizer/BioNTech or Sinopharm.
Boosters are additional doses of a vaccine administered to ramp up the immune system’s response to a particular pathogen.
A total of 1,239,882 people in Bahrain have so far taken two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine with 1,224,919 taking at least one dose. Bahrain has a population of around 1.7 million, according to the latest census in 2020.
“This is a true milestone for the country as it shows that people want to be immune from the coronavirus, even though Covid-19 is on a decline globally and Bahrain is back to business,” said Parliament’s services committee chairman Ahmed Al Ansari, whose panel oversees health issues.
“However, there are some people who continue to spread rumours and misconceptions about vaccines and its efficacy,” he said.
“Reality has proven them wrong multiple times as most infections in Bahrain have been mild. We are in a safe state because our citizens and residents have been vaccinated against the coronavirus.”
A top Health Ministry official had revealed in April that more than 90pc of people aged between 12 and 79 and 75.5pc of those aged 80 to 89 had received two doses of a Covid vaccine.
A total of 10,396,647 RT-PCR tests have also been conducted until date.
The GDN reported last month that Bahrain secured the top position globally in a key Covid-19 index. As of July 31 this year, the kingdom, with a score of 78, was the first among 121 countries mentioned in the Nikkei Covid-19 Recovery Index.
Bahrain ranked ahead of Cambodia and Portugal (jointly on 77.5) and Vietnam (76). Regionally, Bahrain was followed by the UAE (75.5), Qatar (75), Saudi Arabia (70), Kuwait (65) and Oman (62).
Bahrain, with a score of 82, was also ranked first in December last year.
Bahrain had also won the vote of confidence from a top World Health Organisation official, who said the country can effectively tackle all emerging variants of the coronavirus.
WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region Infection Hazards Prevention Manager Dr Abdinasir Abubakar said vaccines were effective in combating Covid-19 variants and recombinants, and Bahrain being a highly vaccinated country can tackle them with ease.
The country launched its vaccination campaign against the coronavirus on December 17, 2020.
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