With the fast-track development of vaccines against the Coronavirus-caused disease, some countries have already begun mass immunization program. But Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa became the first world leader to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, after the Gulf kingdom's official news agency said that he got the shot on Wednesday, December 16.
Neither has the agency shared any image of the king being vaccinated, nor given a clear answer to which vaccine was administered. "God has endowed Bahrain with a society with a high level of awareness and keenness to adhere to all precautionary measures and directives issued by the national medical taskforce," the king said, according to the Bahrain News Agency.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will be vaccinated this weekend, was supposed to be the first world leader to get a vaccine. Even the US President-elect Joe Biden is also expected to receive a vaccine shot next week. For that matter, Russian President Vladimir Putin could have become the first leader to get a shot as the country announced Sputnik V the world's first approved vaccine months ago, but as of now, he did not take the jab.
Vaccine in Bahrain
Bahrain said on Sunday that it has approved the use of a Chinese Coronavirus vaccine after the country showed green light to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. According to the news agency, China's Sinopharm Coronavirus vaccine would be available in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
According to reports, more than 7,700 people signed up to take part in a trial of Sinopharm vaccine in the middle eastern country. Bahrain also said earlier that it is planning to give the public free vaccines, but has not revealed any details about the immunization program. However, it is not clear whether the king of Bahrain was administered the Sinopharm vaccine or not.
A few countries have approved the Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use, while the company is still conducting late-stage trials in 10 countries. The vaccine relies on a tested technology, using a killed virus to deliver the shots, similar to how polio immunizations were made.
