The Ministry of Health (MoH) has issued a circular to private sector firms to reserve COVID-19vaccines for their employees.

A statement issued by MoH said, ‘As an extension of the initiatives of the private sector to enhance the societal efforts to deal with coronavirus and the effects resulting from it, the ministry urges private companies to reserve quantities of vaccine for their employees if they wish to.’ 

According to the ministry, the price of a single dose of Pfizer vaccine (including the price of serum, solution and needle) has been set at RO20. The fee for administering the vaccine in private hospitals is RO3 per dose.

The ministry will provide vaccines directly to private institutions that have private clinics approved by MoH to administer the shots to their employees.

Any company wishing to reserve vaccines must fill a form – https://forms.gle/quKvkkrUneYyFYTT9 – providing all the required information including payment proof of the prescribed fees in NBO’s a/c No 1016125105001 allocated to the COVID-19 Pandemic Vaccine Fund.

The ministry warned that it prohibits companies from benefiting from this service by selling or exporting vaccines outside the sultanate or benefit from it financially in any way. 

‘Disbursal of the quantities that are booked will start from June after the sultanate receives the doses for the private sector institutions,’ the MoH stated

Jabs for students 

In another statement, MoH said, ‘The administration of the second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine will be postponed till June as the available vaccines will be given to Grade 12 students prior to their final examinations. Students’ immunisation schedules will be announced soon.’