SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraq received the first shipment of Pfizer coronavirus vaccine on Sunday, according to the country’s health ministry.
Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi said Iraq received 50,000 doses of Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine at Baghdad International Airport.
“The vaccine will be available tomorrow in the whole country,” Al Forat News cited Tamimi as saying.
The health minister added that 50 centers would be opened for vaccinating people in Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces.
In December, the Iraqi health ministry said it had agreed with Pfizer to import 1.5 million doses of its vaccine.
Iraq will also receive 200,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine on Sunday, according to the health ministry.
The Iraqi foreign ministry said last month that China would donate 200,000 more doses of the coronavirus vaccine to Iraq.
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 is facing a sharp rise in COVID-19 infections, 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 918,155, including 14,678 deaths as of April 11.
