COVID-19 Vaccination Rollout Kicks Off In Iraq With Sinopharm Vaccine - Health Ministry

COVID-19 Vaccination Rollout Kicks Off in Iraq With Sinopharm Vaccine - Health Ministry

The Iraqi Ministry of Health on Tuesday announced the start of a mass vaccination campaign against the coronavirus, after the first shipment of China's Sinopharm vaccine arrived in the country

CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd March, 2021) The Iraqi Ministry of Health on Tuesday announced the start of a mass vaccination campaign against the coronavirus, after the first shipment of China's Sinopharm vaccine arrived in the country.

Early on Tuesday, an Iraqi Air Force plane carrying 50,000 doses of the vaccine landed in the Baghdad airport. Health Minister Hassan al-Tamimi told state-run news agency INA that this batch was gifted by the Chinese government, though the middle Eastern nation has a contract with Sinopharm for two million doses of the vaccine.

"Among the first, who got inoculated, were health staff in the Baghdad Medical City," the ministry's press service said in a statement seen by Sputnik.

Medical specialists, military, senior citizens and those individuals with chronic diseases are priority groups to get a vaccine shot.

Ministry spokesman Seif al-Badr said that Baghdad has concluded a deal for the supply of 16 million doses of the vaccine against COVID-19, and the first shipments are expected to arrive "in the coming days."

In December, the ministry said that Baghdad plans to receive the first batch of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in early 2021, as the country inked a preliminary import deal for 1.5 million doses of the vaccine.

In January, the ministry authorized the use of the vaccine from Sinopharm and another vaccine from UK-Swedish firm AstraZeneca.