COVID-19: Anti-vaccine detractors accused of bullying doctors in Kuwait

Cairo: Kuwait’s health community has denounced an online campaign against health workers who encourage more people to get the jabs against COVID-19 as the country is seeking herd immunity.

The Health Ministry said it appreciates “all official and voluntary efforts” to achieve protection from COVID-19 and condemned what it called “smear campaigns” against health workers.

”These workers have devoted their efforts to protect society,” the ministry said. “It is important to join hands to protect all components of society,” it added, according to local media.

Likewise, the Kuwaiti Medical Association condemned the anti-medic campaign and vowed to take legal action against the slanderers.

“The style of vituperation and bullying adopted by some opponents of vaccination is the biggest evidence of their indefensible argument,” the association’s secretary general Salem Al Kandari said.

Meanwhile, the union’s treasurer Mohammed Al Obaidan said that the association will take legal action against the verbal attacks against medical professionals, calling their practice a “direct strike” at the country’s health security.

Kuwait, a country of 4.8 million people, began its COVID-19 vaccination campaign on December 24. Around 2.3 million doses have since been administered, the Health Ministry said last week.