BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A total of 50,400 doses of the COVID-19 Moderna vaccine arrived in Brunei from Spain on Sunday, the first batch out of the 200,000 doses of Moderna vaccine procured by the country.
According to Brunei's Ministry of Health, the Brunei Darussalam Medicines Control Authority (BDMCA) has verified the safety and efficacy of the Moderna vaccine following a stringent scientific assessment process by the National COVID-19 Vaccines Technical Committee. The BDMCA has granted special authorization to administer the Moderna vaccine in Brunei.
Brunei announced that five COVID-19 vaccine candidates from Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, China's Sinopharm, and Johnson and Johnson will be administered in the country. All Brunei citizens and residents, including foreign nationals with a valid identification card, can receive the COVID-19 vaccination for free.
The Ministry of Health said that as of June 2021, more than 200 million doses of Moderna vaccine have been administered worldwide. Moderna vaccine will be offered to all citizens and residents in Brunei in phases.
The Sultanate reported two new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Sunday, bringing the national tally to 255.
The new cases are being treated and monitored at the National Isolation Center with six other active cases, who are all in a stable condition.
With the detection of the new case, a total of 114 imported cases have been confirmed since the last local infection case on May 6, 2020. Brunei has recorded 410 days without local COVID-19 infection cases.
There have been 244 recovered patients and three deaths from COVID-19 so far in Brunei. Enditem
