Over 200k people in Kurdistan Region have received at least first COVID-19 vaccine dose

Halgurd Sherwani 2021/06/18 15:32

A nurse holds a used vial of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine at a vaccination center in the Kindi Hospital in Iraq's capital Baghdad, April 14, 2021. (Photo: Ahmad al-Rubaye / AFP)

Kurdistan COVID-19 Kurdistan Region Iraq Vaccines

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Since the launch of the national COVID-19 vaccination program in the Kurdistan Region, over 200,000 people have received at least their first dose of a vaccine, according to the health ministry.

The Kurdistan Region began its vaccination program in early March following the arrival of the Chinese-made Sinopharm, which was given first to healthcare workers. Seniors in Erbil began to receive their jabs in April.

The Region has dedicated 60 centers for vaccination across its provinces.

So far, over 200,000 people have received at least one jab of the available vaccine brands: Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca, and Sinopharm, according to new figures from the health ministry.

The vaccines the region has so far administered are from its share from Iraq's purchases. The autonomous Kurdish region is in talks with vaccine makers to directly purchase additional supplies.

Iraq and its Kurdish region have planned to vaccinate nearly “20 to 30 percent” of the population by the end of 2021, according to Dr. Dashti Bustani, a member of Iraq’s anti-COVID-19 Board.