Kuwait City: Kuwait is preparing to receive 200,000 doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine by next week, Al Qabas reported. A source revealed to Al Qabas that an additional 800,000 doses will arrive by February or March at the latest.
While Kuwait has placed an order for the Oxford vaccine, administering the vaccine will be contingent on official approval locally, as it first must be licenced before its arrival.
Once the Oxford vaccine arrives and is approved it will be easier to store, compared to the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine which is required to be stored in less than 70 degrees’ Celsius temperature.
Given that the Oxford vaccine can be stored in regular refrigerators, the vaccine will be made available across medical clinics in Kuwait, compared to the Pfizer vaccine which is only being administered at the Mishref Fairground as it is where the freezers that contain the vaccine are being housed.
Currently, Kuwait is only administrating the Pfizer vaccine as it has received approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Kuwait received three shipments of the Pfizer vaccine. The first one, which arrived on December 23, contained 150,000 doses. The second and third doses arrived earlier this month, but the quantity of the shipment has not been disclosed.
