Bahrain is on track to achieve a new vaccination milestone with one million people set to complete two doses of a Covid-19 jab in a couple of days.
It means almost 70 per cent of the country’s total population will be fully vaccinated by this weekend.
As of yesterday, as many as 983,247 citizens and residents have taken both shots of a vaccine – which accounts for almost 65pc of Bahrain’s total population of 1.5 million.
This also accounts for 85.8pc of the eligible population – those aged above 12 years – an estimated 1.14m, assessed based on inputs from the Bahrain Embassy in the UK in May.
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An average of 6,500 people have been administered their second shot during the last four days – based on which the country is expected to cross the one million mark this weekend.
Bahrain has been steadily moving towards its goal of achieving herd immunity, which happens when 80 to 90pc of a population is fully vaccinated.
National Taskforce for Combating Covid-19 monitoring committee head Lieutenant Colonel Dr Manaf Al Qahtani had earlier said that by July 1, percentage of vaccinated people who completed two weeks after the second dose is expected to reach 78pc of the adult population. By July 15, it was expected to hit 87pc, he said.
The figures would also mean that two weeks from Friday more than a million people in the country would sport a ‘green shield’ on the BeAware app on their smartphones.
The shield turns from yellow to green when a person completes two weeks after the second dose, which, according to studies, is the ideal period for the body to develop enough antibodies to fight the virus.
Vaccination proof will be mandatory for people to enter commercial malls, shopping centres, mosques, restaurants, cinemas, salons and other facilities, including service centres and government offices, once Bahrain lifts the partial closure of retail trade outlets and services involving customers.
The closure, effective since May 27 was part of measures to combat the virus spread after the country witnessed a spike in cases.
The GDN reported last week that the green shield on the BeAware app would automatically turn yellow for those aged over 50 who qualify for booster shots of Sinopharm and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines.
Citizens and residents aged 50 and above who have completed three months after taking the second dose of the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm can register for the Pfizer-BioNTech booster jab, while the others can take it after six months.
The country has also been making progress in terms of reducing the number of infections, with a record low test positivity rate of 1.9pc on Monday.
Test positivity rate is the percentage of positive cases from daily tests conducted in a country/state. It indicates the possibility of a person contracting the infection from his/her community.
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