Yemen will kick off on Tuesday its national vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus in 13 governorates with the support of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief), the World Health Organization and UNICEF.

More than 300,000 medical staff, the elderly and people with chronic diseases will be vaccinated first.

“We have completed all technical and logistic preparations to launch the campaign. Logistical arrangements have already been set in the governorates where people will be inoculated,” Yemen’s Health minister, Qasem Buhaibeh, told Yemen’s Saba news agency.

Late last month, Yemen received 360,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses shipped via the COVAX Facility with hopes to protect health workers and other priority populations vulnerable to COVID-19, against the virus.

The aim is to vaccinate 70 percent of Yemen’s population.

Buhaibeh has already announced that the health ministry in Yemen’s internationally recognized government applied to the KSRelief for it to finance vaccines for 50 percent of the population.

Speaking to Saba on Monday, he said the vaccination campaign will extend for 12 days and will be managed by 426 medical teams and more than 1,700 staff.

“The campaign should vaccinate 317,363 medical staff, old people and those with chronic diseases across 133 directorates,” the Minister said.

He stressed that the inoculation drive aims to prevent further transmission of the virus as authorities continue to enforce strict preventive measures.

Buhaibeh called on local authorities in the governorates and on imams at Yemen’s mosques to cooperate with the teams responsible for the vaccination campaign.