SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraq received the second shipment of Pfizer coronavirus vaccine on Sunday, according to the health ministry.
The Iraqi health ministry said in a statement that other doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine would arrive in the country every week.
“Upon their arrival, they will be distributed to the health directorates in Baghdad, other governorates and the Kurdistan Region,” the ministry of health added.
Iraq received 50,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine at Baghdad airport on April 11.
In December, the Iraqi health ministry said it had agreed with Pfizer to import 1.5 million doses of its vaccine.
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.
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 970,980, including 14,948 deaths as of April 18.