7,000 people in Syria’s AANES areas vaccinated against COVID-19
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – About 7,000 people of Health staff, the elderly and those of chronic diseases were vaccinated against Covid-19, co-chair of the Health Board of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), Jiwan Mustafa, said on Wednesday.
During the last period, about 23,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine arrived in the northeastern region of Syria, which has a population of about five million people.
AstraZeneca is a vaccine that Oxford University worked with the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca to develop and produce, and it is given by muscle injection.
In an exclusive interview with North Press in the Health Board headquarters, Mustafa added that most of the northeast regions have been targeted during the vaccination campaign.
Mustafa expected that a new batch of vaccine will arrive in the region at the beginning of July, as they were previously promised by international organizations about receiving new amounts of the vaccine.
However, the Health Board co-chair did not specify the size of the quantities of the vaccines that the region will receive, attributing that to technical problems the World Health Organisation (WHO) has during sending the vaccine to Syria.
At the end of April, the UN announced the arrival of a shipment of about 200,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Syria through the global “COVAX” initiative.
The Health Board allocated the current doses to vaccinate medical staff and vulnerable groups that need vaccination, including the elderly and those with chronic diseases.
Each person receives two doses of the vaccine, as the amount present is not enough to vaccinate all health workers, according to Mustafa.
The Autonomous Administration has 9,500 people working in hospitals, clinics and health centers affiliated with it, and this number does not include workers in the private health sector.
Mustafa stated that the number of health workers is much more than the available doses, “but most of the workers on the front line with COVID-19 have received the doses.”
“Studies indicate that there will be a new wave at the end of summer, not only in Syria but the whole world.”
“The virus is still exists and the cases are within the normal limits and may be minimal, though its threat is weak and the infections are few,” Mustafa concluded.