Riyadh, Dec 17 Saudi Arabia on Thursday started a vaccination programme for the novel coronavirus, the Health Ministry announced.
In a tweet, Health Minister Tawfiq al-Rabiah, who received the vaccine, said: "In the last nine months, I was observing with concern the number of cases, today I will happily observe the number of people who will get the vaccine."
The Kingdom received on Wednesday the first shipment of the vaccine.
More than 150,000 individuals registered to receive the free-of-charge vaccine.
The three-stage vaccination process covers citizens and residents in the country who wish to receive the vaccine.
As of Thursday, Saudi Arabia has reported a total of 360,335 coronavirus cases and 6,080 deaths.
( With inputs from IANS )
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