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Jordan's Coronavirus Vaccination Program to Start Next Week

Jordanians wearing protective masks walk at a street of downtown Amman, Jordan. (EPA)
Jordanians wearing protective masks walk at a street of downtown Amman, Jordan. (EPA)
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Jordan's Coronavirus Vaccination Program to Start Next Week

Jordanians wearing protective masks walk at a street of downtown Amman, Jordan. (EPA)
Jordanians wearing protective masks walk at a street of downtown Amman, Jordan. (EPA)

Jordan’s health minister on Saturday said the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program will start within days.

The state news agency cited Nathir Obeidat as saying the rollout would start on Wednesday following the expected arrival of the first batches of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on Monday. Supplies of the vaccine developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) would also arrive Saturday night.

Jordan had said on Jan. 3 it had struck a deal with Pfizer and partner BioNTech to buy 1 million doses of their vaccine and another 2 million doses from the World Health Organization’s COVAX program, which aims to vaccinate people in poor and middle income countries.

Obeidat has previously said the government intends to rollout a free inoculation program for more than 20 percent of the country’s 10 million population.

The vaccination program will prioritize the elderly, those with underlying conditions and health sector workers, the minister said on Saturday.

The government had reached initial understandings with AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson for their vaccines, he added.

Jordan, which has seen a sharp drop in infections since a second wave peaked in November when there was around 60 deaths per day, had recorded a total of 305,959 cases as of Saturday, with 4,009 deaths.

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At Least 15 Killed in Suicide Bombing at Damascus Church

A Syrian man reacts inside Mar Elias church where a suicide bomber detonated himself in Dweila in the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Sunday June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
A Syrian man reacts inside Mar Elias church where a suicide bomber detonated himself in Dweila in the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Sunday June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
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At Least 15 Killed in Suicide Bombing at Damascus Church

A Syrian man reacts inside Mar Elias church where a suicide bomber detonated himself in Dweila in the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Sunday June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
A Syrian man reacts inside Mar Elias church where a suicide bomber detonated himself in Dweila in the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Sunday June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)

At least 15 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighborhood of Syria's capital Damascus on Sunday, security sources said.

Syria's interior ministry said the suicide bomber was an ISIS member. He entered the church, opened fire and then detonated his explosive vest, the ministry added in a statement.

A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said two men were involved in the attack, including the one who blew himself up.

Syria's state news agency cited the health ministry as putting the preliminary casualty toll at nine dead and 13 injured.

Some local media reported that children were among the casualties.

A livestream from the site by Syria's civil defense, the White Helmets, showed scenes of destruction from within the church, including a bloodied floor and shattered church pews and masonry.

Syrian Information Minister Hamza Mostafa condemned the attack, calling it a terrorist attack.

“This cowardly act goes against the civic values that brings us together,” he said in a post on X. “We will not back down from our commitment to equal citizenship ... and we also affirm the state’s pledge to exert all its efforts to combat criminal organizations and to protect society from all attacks threatening its safety.”