Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia's Minister of Health, Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah, said his country has received the first batch of the COVID-19 vaccine early on Wednesday and expected the vaccination process to start within three days.

He reiterated that the vaccine will be provided free of charge to citizens and residents, including residence violators.

More than 150,000 people in Saudi Arabia have registered their data to take the coronavirus vaccine since yesterday until Wednesday noon, the Ministry of Health said.

On Tuesday, Saudi health authorities began registering citizens and foreign residents for vaccination against COVID-19 through "Sehaty" application.

Earlier, the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for use in the kingdom.