DOHA: Qatar received its first novel coronavirus vaccines on Monday, just hours after regulators approved the jab for use in the Gulf state, which says it will inoculate all residents free of charge. A shipment of 14 boxes of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine landed at Doha’s Hamad International Airport aboard a Qatar Airways passenger Boeing 787 from Brussels shortly after 8 p.m. on Monday (12 midnight on Tuesday in Manila), according to Agence France-Presse (AFP) correspondents on site. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has proven to be 95 percent effective in global trials, where two doses are administered three weeks apart. It needs to be stored at the ultra-low temperature of -70 degrees Celsius (-94 Fahrenheit), posing handling and storage challenges. “Their review showed that the vaccine is safe and effective in accordance with international standards.” Qatar will also administer doses of the vaccine made by US firm Moderna Therapeutics.

Source: Manila Times December 22, 2020 06:00 UTC