Nearly 25,000 COVID-19 vaccine passes issued in Sulaimani 

The Kurdistan Region began issuing the pass for its citizens in September 2021. 
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)
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)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Region’s Sulaimani health authorities have issued roughly 25,000 vaccine passes for its citizens since the vaccination drive against coronavirus began in early 2021, a spokesperson said.

The Kurdistan Region began issuing the pass for its citizens in September 2021. 

So far, nearly 25,000 people have received these passes, Saman Sheikh Latif, the spokesperson for Sulaimani’s health directorate, told Kurdistan 24 on Wednesday. 

The figures are of the city center, excluding the independent administrations in the province, the official said. 

Three centers in the city are dedicated to issuing the pass for citizens, the spokesperson added. 

Passes are given to those who have received at least the first two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

For those traveling abroad, the pass is required to board a plane. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) recently mandated the vaccine document for those visiting the government offices following a surge in COVID-19 cases.

The Sulaimani health directorate does not release the salary of its employees unless they have proof of vaccination as part of a bid to boost vaccinations among healthcare workers who are at the forefront of battling the pandemic, Sheikh Latif said. 

Over 644,000 vaccine doses have been administered in the province, the health official said. 

The number of people that have received both doses of one of the vaccine brands is less than a million, according to the latest figures issued by the KRG health officials. 

Public health officials have recorded over 417,000 infections since the pandemic began in early 2020. More than 7,200 people in the Kurdistan Region have died from COVID-19 related complications.