Philippine Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Adnan Alonto on Wednesday disclosed that he has already received his second dose of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) vaccine in a designated vaccination center in Riyadh.
The 62-year-old envoy and his wife were first inoculated with the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine on December 29, 2020, several days after the Saudi government announced a three-phased vaccination program.
On the priority list at the first stage of the program are people over 65 years old, as well as those with chronic ailments or at a high risk of infection. On the second stage are those 50 years old and above.
Everyone else will be vaccinated in the third stage, according to reports quoting the Kingdom’s Ministry of Health. Saudi Arabia has a population of more than 34 million.
Alonto said at his current age, he is now very susceptible to infection. He disclosed that his wife had contracted the disease sometime in September, 2020.
Early this week, the Saudi government approved the use of additional vaccines manufactured by Astra Zeneca and Moderna for its massive program to immunize its citizens and even foreign nationals living in the country.
Hundreds of thousands of overseas Filipino workers deployed throughout the Kingdom are expected to benefit from the vaccination program.