Kuwait City: On the first three days of its mass vaccination campaign, the Ministry of Health administered the second dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to around 120,000 citizens and residents.
The huge vaccination drive comes as Kuwait authenticated the documents of the third batch of the Oxford vaccine that arrived from Russia back on May 10 and is said to contain around 400,000 doses.
While the shipment arrived a month ago, it was sitting in a storage facility as the Ministry of Health awaited the documents and results proving the safety of the vaccine.
After the documents were authenticated on Tuesday, Kuwait began administering the vaccine on Wednesday. The Minister of Health Dr. Basel Al Sabah said they are planning to administer the second dose to all 200,000 citizens and residents who received the first dose more than three months ago, within 10 days and across 30 vaccination centres.
Delayed jab
Amid a worldwide shortage and delay in shipments, last month the ministry decided to postpone the administering of the second dose.
Instead of receiving the shot 12-weeks after the first dose, the ministry announced it will be delaying the second dose so that it is given between three to four months from the first jab.
The ministry has reiterated there will be no side effects if the second dose is delayed.
New vaccines
To ensure there is no shortage of vaccines, the Ministry of Health authorised the emergency use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine on Tuesday.
The decision comes after Dr. Basel Al Sabah announced earlier this week that Kuwait has signed deals with US pharmaceutical companies to supply both the Johnson & Johnson and Moderna vaccines.
