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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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Drone Strikes Target Army Celebration in Central Sudan, Say Witnesses

A man walks while smoke rises above buildings after aerial bombardment, during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 1, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File Photo
A man walks while smoke rises above buildings after aerial bombardment, during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 1, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File Photo
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Drone Strikes Target Army Celebration in Central Sudan, Say Witnesses

A man walks while smoke rises above buildings after aerial bombardment, during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 1, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File Photo
A man walks while smoke rises above buildings after aerial bombardment, during clashes between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the army in Khartoum North, Sudan, May 1, 2023. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah/File Photo

Drone strikes targeted the Sudanese town of Tamboul, southeast of the capital Khartoum, on Wednesday during a celebration organized by the army, two witnesses told AFP.

One Tamboul resident said chaos had erupted in the central square where "hundreds of people had gathered" for the ceremony as air defenses responded.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the strikes, the first in Al-Jazira state in months, and neither the army nor its RSF foes issued any comment.

Al-Jazira was Sudan's pre-war agricultural heartland, AFP reported.

It had been largely calm since the army recaptured it from the Rapid Support Forces in January in the same counteroffensive that saw it retake Khartoum in March.

According to the United Nations, around a million people have returned to their homes in Al-Jazira since January.

Wednesday's celebration in Tamboul was due to be attended by Abu Aqla Kaykal, the commander of the Sudan Shield Forces, an armed group currently aligned with the regular army which has been accused of atrocities while fighting on both sides of Sudan's devastating war.

His defection back to the army's side late last year helped pave the way for its gains of recent months.

Since it began in April 2023, the war between the regular army and the RSF has killed tens of thousands of people and driven millions from their homes.

The army now controls the centre, north and east of Sudan, while the RSF hold nearly all of the west and parts of the south.