First doses of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to hit Iraq by February
Iraq has pushed hard to be among the world’s first countries to receive and distribute the vaccine after committing $170 million to COVAX, a global body to promote the vaccine.
Iraq is expected to receive its first doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine by February, according to Iraq’s Health Minister on Monday.
Last month, the ministry announced it had signed a preliminary deal with the vaccine makers to import 1.5 million doses by early 2021. Health Ministry spokesperson Saif al-Badr confirmed this week with state-owned newspaper al-Sabah that Iraq’s share of the vaccine is now 8 million doses, enough to cover 20% of the country’s population. Troops, health care workers and the elderly are prioritized for vaccines, Badr had said in December.
“The distribution will be made to all governorates through hospitals to be determined through the media and according to priority,” he told al-Sabah on Monday. “The vaccine will not be compulsory at all.”
Iraq is still in talks to receive more vaccines through COVAX, an international body to promote global access to coronavirus vaccines for those in greatest need, as well as being open to other channels.
