SULAIMANI (ESTA) — China will donate 200,000 more doses of coronavirus vaccine produced by the country to Iraq, according to the Iraqi foreign ministry.
Iraqi foreign minister Fuad Hussein discussed with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi ways to develop bilateral relations between the two countries in a phone call, Iraq’s foreign minister said in a statement.
The Chinese minister said his government had decided to donate an additional 200,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine to Iraq as support for the Iraqi people, the statement read.
Hussein also said Iraq needed to purchase two million more doses Sinopharm vaccine “as soon as possible”, the Iraqi foreign ministry said.
“Wang Yi responded to the request that the Chinese government will ask the company to arrange the requirements of the request,” it added.
On March 4, Iraq received its first 50,000 doses of the Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine as a donation from China. Inoculations started the same day for healthcare workers, elderly people and members of the security forces first.
Sinopharm Group is to supply Iraq with around 2 million doses of the vaccine in stages, according to Reuters. Iraq also has agreements to receive vaccines from AstraZeneca Plc and Pfizer.
Iraq recorded a sharp rise in COVID-19 infections last month, and has reported cases of one of the variants of the novel coronavirus.
The total number of COVID-19 cases reported in Iraq is more than 750,000, including 13,696 deaths as of March 12.
In the phone call, the Iraqi and Chinese foreign ministers also discussed strengthening trade relations between Iraq and China as well as the role of Chinese companies operating in Iraq.
