Kurdistan Region launches online COVID-19 vaccine registration in Erbil

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Health Ministry on Saturday launched an online application for the public to register for the COVID-19 vaccine in Erbil. 

Staff of health facilities will be given priority in the vaccination process, especially those who are in direct contact with COVID-19 patients, followed by workers in hospitals and other health facilities. Residents can register and check their appointments on a new online vaccine portal.

“The online link for registration will initiate tomorrow on Sunday, and anyone who registers can be vaccinated in the closest vaccination center close to their homes,” said Linda Mohsen, the head of Erbil Vaccination Center. 

Mohsen explained that, at their current capacity, the center can vaccinate 60 to 100 people per day, pointing out that so far, they have vaccinated 153 with the AstraZeneca vaccine, and 400 with Sinopharm.

Mohsen added “now that we have the AstraZeneca vaccine, we can vaccinate people above the age of 60, something that we couldn’t do with the Sinopharm vaccine.”

She also explained that the center keeps individuals who are vaccinated under supervised care for half an hour, and “the vaccine does not create any health issues, it just causes a mild fever after 8 hours, and passes after two hours” in some people.

On March 26 43,800 doses of the Oxford and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine arrived in the Kurdistan Region. The AstraZeneca jab is the second coronavirus vaccine the Region has received, following the delivery of 5,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine which arrived in early March.

The Kurdistan Region on Friday announced eight additional deaths from the coronavirus and 773 new cases in the previous day, bringing the total up to 123,688, including 3,688 deaths since March 2020.

Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly