Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia announced that the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination programme has started on Thursday.

The Minister of Health, Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al-Rabiah, was among those who got vaccinated after the first shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in the kingdom, the health ministry said in a tweet.

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.

On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia reported 180 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 360,335 with 6,080 deaths.