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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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Switzerland Lifts Economic Sanctions on Syria

A drone view shows the Syrian central bank, after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, December 16, 2024. (Reuters)
A drone view shows the Syrian central bank, after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, December 16, 2024. (Reuters)
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Switzerland Lifts Economic Sanctions on Syria

A drone view shows the Syrian central bank, after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, December 16, 2024. (Reuters)
A drone view shows the Syrian central bank, after the ousting of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, in Damascus, Syria, December 16, 2024. (Reuters)

Switzerland said on Friday it will lift a raft of economic sanctions imposed on Syria, including the Middle Eastern country's central bank.

After the toppling of former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, targeted sanctions against individuals and entities linked to the former government will still remain in place, Switzerland's governing Federal Council said.

"The aim of this decision is to promote the country's economic recovery and an inclusive and peaceful political transition," the council said in a statement.

After an initial easing of sanctions in March, Switzerland is now lifting restrictions on the provision of certain financial services, trade in precious metals and the export of luxury goods, the government said.

Some 24 entities including the central bank of Syria have also been removed from the sanctions list, it added.

The announcement follows the EU's decision to lift its economic sanctions on Syria at the end of May after a similar move by the US Treasury Department in the same month.