Jordan to receive 100,000 Pfizer vaccine doses from France as precautionary measure for BF7

AMMAN — The Lower House Health Committee on Monday went over the latest health developments in the Kingdom.

Head of the Committee MP Firas Al Qudah, in the presence of Health Minister Feras Al Hawari and Secretary General of the Health Ministry for Primary Healthcare and Epidemiology Raed Shboul, said that there are cases of the BF7 variant present in the Kingdom, calling for raising awareness about the disease.

Other members of the committee also stressed the importance of taking preemptive procedures to avoid infection, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Hawari said that BF7 is not new, and has neither treatment nor vaccine. The virus affects 90 per cent of infants under the age of two, and infections typically drop during school holidays, he added.

He added that Ministry of Health (MoH) has prepared its personnel and field hospitals to deal with the virus, pointing out that information the ministry received from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the virus shows that it is a sub-variant of the Omicron variant, and that it has spread in 90 countries.

WHO has not recommended any travel bans at the moment, he said.

The minister also said that health personnel are ready to deal with any developments and called on the public to adhere to the epidemiological committee’s recommendation to receive a third shot (booster) of the COVID-19 vaccine for those who have passed the six month mark from their second vaccine.

According to Shboul, over 75 per cent of citizens have received COVID-19 vaccines, noting that the Kingdom is expecting to receive around 100,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine from France as a precautionary measure to deal with BF7. 

The epidemiological committee is scheduled to hold a meeting on Tuesday to discuss further procedures to deal with the variants, Shboul said.