The Assistant Secretary-General for Primary Health Care at the Ministry of Health, Ghazi Sharkas, announced that Jordan has secured COVID-19 vaccines for 15 percent of Jordanians and seeks to secure an additional 5 percent. He indicated that the first batch will arrive in the Kingdom at the beginning of next year.

Sharkas stressed that for now, wearing masks is the only preventative measure against the virus available.

Sharkas revealed in an interview with Public Security Radio that the priority for the vaccine belongs to medical personnel that deal directly with infected patients, then to the elderly and citizens with of chronic diseases, indicating that the distribution mechanism will be through the Ministry of Health and free of charge.

Sharkas explained that the coronavirus crisis is surging, and he is expecting more infections to be recorded in the following weeks in copious amounts.

In regards to the capacity of hospital beds in the Kingdom, Sharkas said that there is a network which monitors the situation through an electronic platform and can redistribute beds to different hospitals if necessary. In addition, he indicated that the Ministry of Health is the process of finalizing the signing of several agreements with a number of private hospitals to increase the number of beds for COVID-19.