SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) minister of health has received the first dose of a coronavirus vaccine donated by China, hoping to reassure sceptics that the vaccine is safe.
The Kurdistan Region launched the vaccination campaign on Thursday, with healthcare workers in Erbil city. Authorities in Sulaimani started the campaign on Sunday and director of health Sabah Hawrani was the first person to take the first shot.
The Region received 5,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine on March 3.
“I took the vaccine to reject rumors that say the vaccine is bad,” minister Saman Barzinji told reporters on Monday.
“Taking the vaccine is a message for doctors and healthcare workers to receive the vaccine because they are the first cause of our strength against the coronavirus and they should receive it,” he added.
He further said Iraq would receive another shipment including 187,000 doses of coronavirus next week and there were efforts to increase the amount.
Iraq received its first 50,000 doses of the vaccine March 1. The doses will be offered to health workers, elderly people and members of the security forces first, according to the health ministry.
The minister noted that the coronavirus cases “are rising day by day” in the Kurdistan Region, saying health guidelines should be implemented despite of taking vaccines.
As many as 344 new cases of the virus have been recorded in the Region in the past 24 hours, with four deaths.
As of Sunday, the Region had recorded 110,512 COVID-19 cases and 3,537 deaths, according to the health ministry.
