Over 100,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered, says Kurdish health minister

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region has administered over 100,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses since the arrival of the first batches in early March, the region’s health minister said on Monday.

The autonomous Kurdistan Region began its vaccination drive when a delivery of 5,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine arrived in March, first prioritizing health workers who are at the greatest risk of coming in contact with the novel coronavirus. Further deliveries of Sinopharm as well as the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Pfizer-BioNTech jabs have continued to arrive through the spring.

In total, over 164,000 doses from three manufacturers have been delivered, from which more than 100,000 shots have been given to residents and priority groups, Health Minister Saman Barzinji said in a press conference in Erbil.

Many of the region’s residents were at first skeptical of the vaccine, mainly due to concerns of rare blood clots that were detected in a number of other countries. But health authorities say they have not detected any irregular side effects, and the number of vaccine-seekers has surged.

The Erbil Health Directorate on Monday announced that the duration between the first and second doses of AstraZeneca would be reduced to eight weeks from the previous three-month gap, based on new guidance from the regional health ministry, its Iraqi counterpart, and the World Health Organization.

The Kurdistan Region has recorded more than 165,000 COVID-19 infections and 4,000 deaths since the advent of the pandemic in early March 2020. 

Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly