King Salman of Saudi Arabia, 85, has received the COVID-19 vaccine in Neom. He received the jab on Friday, 8 January – a day before Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh received their shots in the UK.
King Salman received the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Friday.
Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Health, Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, said: “Today, the King received the vaccine in order to prevent him from receiving the virus, and this initiative affirms the Kingdom’s policy is always prevention before treatment.”
He also thanked the King for getting the jab and his support of the Saudi people since the pandemic began. His son, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, 35, received the vaccine at the end of December live on television in Riyadh. It is thought that the Crown Prince was the first royal to receive the vaccine.
Another child of the King, Prince Khalid bin Salman, has also received the jab.
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark announced that she had been vaccinated against COVID-19 on 1 January.
