Iraq receives first AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine delivery amid jab’s controversy
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq received its first batch of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine through the UN distribution program amid controversy over the safety and effectiveness of the British-made jab.
Iraq received 336,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, through the UN’s COVAX initiative to deliver vaccines to low- and middle-income countries with limited production capacities of their own, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.
“Today, is a historical day in the response to #COVID19 pandemic in #Iraq,” the WHO in Iraq said on Twitter after the delivery was received by federal health authorities in Baghdad.
Today, is a historical day in the response to #COVID19 pandemic in #Iraq
— WHO Iraq (@WHOIraq) March 25, 2021
336000 doses of safe and effective AstraZeneca vaccines💉 arrived through the COVAX Facility
Congratulations to @MOHealth_Iraq and to Iraqi people for this achievement made amid global shortage of vaccines pic.twitter.com/3niNALFHi1
Iraq will begin distributing the newly arrived vaccines on Friday, the country’s health minister, Hassan Tamimi said during a press conference. There will be no charge to receive the vaccine, he added.
The doses arrived in Iraq amid controversy around the efficacy and safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine over concerns that it could cause blood clotting and brain hemorrhage in limited cases, which has resulted in some European countries temporarily halting its use. The US earlier this week challenged the manufacturer’s clinical trial reporting, forcing AstraZeneca to revise its efficacy rate against symptomatic COVID-19 to 76 percent from 79 percent.
The WHO has previously said that “the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh its risks and recommends that vaccinations continue.”
Iraq’s health minister asked citizens to receive the shots as they are “safe and effective.”
In early March, a batch of 50,000 doses of China’s Sinopharm vaccine arrived in Iraq. The vaccine, developed by state-run Sinopharm, was donated to Iraq by the Chinese government.
The Oxford and AstraZeneca jabs are believed to be effective and easier to handle during transportation than others that require ultra-low storage temperatures, which pose a challenge for undeveloped countries.
Iraq has so far recorded 815,605 cases of COVID-19, from which more than 14,000 Iraqis died, since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
Editing by Joanne Stocker-Kelly