Bahrain plans free shots, Saudi Arabia approves Pfizer jab
Dubai, Dec 11: Bahrain has announced plans to give the public free coronavirus vaccines, as Saudi Arabia said it approved an inoculation by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech to fight the pandemic.
The island nation of Bahrain, off the coast of Saudi Arabia, made the vaccine pledge in an announcement published late Thursday by its state-run Bahrain News Agency.
A safe vaccine will be provided free of charge to all citizens and residents within the kingdom, the statement said, without elaborating on which vaccine it would offer.
Bahrain plans to inoculate everyone 18 years and older in the kingdom at 27 different medical facilities, hoping to be able to vaccinate 10,000 people a day.
Bahrain, an island in the Persian Gulf home to the US Navy's 5th Fleet, has a population of around 1.5 million people.
A week ago, Bahrain said it had become the second nation in the world to grant an emergency-use authorization to the Pfizer vaccine after the United Kingdom.
The Pfizer shots, a so-called mRNA vaccine, contain a piece of genetic code that trains the immune system to recognize the spiked protein on the surface of the virus.
To be vaccinated, a person receives two shots over 21 days.
In the time since, Bahrain has not responded to questions from The Associated Press, including on Friday.
Pfizer told the AP that the details of its sales agreement with Bahrain, including the timing of delivery and the volume of doses, were confidential and declined to comment.
Bahrain had already granted emergency-use authorisation for a Chinese vaccine made by Sinopharm and has inoculated some 6,000 people with it.
That vaccine is an inactivated shot made by growing the whole virus in a lab and then killing it.
The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday described the Sinopharm vaccine as 86 per cent effective, but provided few details and answered no questions.
It marked the first public release of information on the efficacy of that shot.
Earlier Thursday, Saudi Arabia's Food and Drug Authority said it had registered the Pfizer vaccine so that health authorities in the kingdom can then import and use the vaccine.
The kingdom said it based its decision on information given by Pfizer on November 24, without elaborating.
Pfizer on November 18 said its vaccine is 95 per cent effective.
A major challenge for the Pfizer shot in the Mideast remains the weather, however. The vaccines must be stored and shipped at ultra-cold temperatures of around minus 70 degrees Celsius (minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit).
Saudi Arabia said its Health Ministry later would announce plans on how it would distribute the vaccine in the kingdom, the biggest Gulf Arab state, with a population of 34 million people.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
