Syria's Idlib receives first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines

Provided through the World Health Organization's COVAX program, the 53,800 AstraZeneca doses will go first to health care workers and first responders in the rebel-held territory.
A truck carrying the first batch of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines arrives at Bab al-Hawa border crossing between Syria and Turkey in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib on April 21, 2021.
A truck carrying the first batch of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines arrives at Bab al-Hawa border crossing between Syria and Turkey in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib on April 21, 2021. - MOHAMMED AL-RIFAI/AFP via Getty Images
Al Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East
Al-Monitor Staff

The first shipment of coronavirus vaccines has arrived in Idlib province, the northwestern rebel enclave home to millions of impoverished Syrians.

The 53,800 AstraZeneca doses were provided through COVAX, the World Health Organization's global initiative to bring vaccinations to poorer countries. Over the next year, COVAX is scheduled to provide the Idlib region with 1.5 million vaccines.

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