Kurdistan Region to start administering second COVID-19 vaccine doses next week

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Healthcare workers in the Kurdistan Region will begin administering the second doses of available coronavirus vaccines early next week, according to a health spokesperson.

People who have already received the first dose of the American-German Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine can get the second jab starting Sunday, Aso Hawezi, the spokesperson for the Region’s health ministry, told Kurdistan 24 on Tuesday.

The gap between receiving the first and second doses of the Pfizer vaccine should be at least 21 days if possible, according to the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). If the second dose is not available by then, the vaccine seeker can wait up to six weeks before receiving the second shot.

The first batch of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines arrived in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region in early April.

Iraq and the autonomous Kurdistan Region expect weekly deliveries of vaccines from Pfizer. According to a federal health ministry statement, a new batch has already arrived in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad.

The Kurdistan Region's vaccination program also includes the British-Swedish Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and Chinese Sinopharm jabs.

So far, more than 64,000 doses of the three available vaccines have been administered in the Region, Hawezi said.

As part of Kurdistan's vaccination program, health authorities have prioritized health care workers, security forces, citizens with underlying conditions, and senior citizens.

Refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) are also included in the vaccination scheme.

Editing by Khrush Najari