Kuwait City: The Ministry of Health has announced that as of Monday 322,000 residents and citizens have received the COVID-19 vaccine.
A few days ago, Kuwait’s Undersecretary of General Health at the Ministry of Health, Dr Buthayna Al Mudhaf, said out of those that are eligible to receive the vaccine, only 17.4 per cent have pre-registered to receive it.
Al Mudhaf added the Ministry of Health has vaccinated everyone above 65 - both citizens and residents - willing to take the jab.
In an effort to vaccinate as many people as possible, the Ministry of Health announced it will continue inoculating people even during the curfew hours which began on Sunday and will be enforced everyday from 5.00pm to 5.00am for a month.
Vaccine approval and shipments
Kuwait began its vaccination campaign on December 24 and is currently administrating the Pfizer-BioNTech and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
An informed health source told Al Anbaa that the vaccination committee at the Ministry of Health will be reviewing the results of the Johnson and Jonhson vaccine in order to decide whether they will authorize it for emergency use.
So far, Kuwait has received seven shipments of the Pfizer vaccine and one of the Oxford vaccine. The quantity of the most recent shipment was not disclosed. A total of 550,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrived in Kuwait in the past two months, with 150,000 in the first shipment and 100,000 in every other shipment following.
As for the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, Kuwait has received one shipment which contained around 200,000 doses. A second shipment is expected to arrive next month.
The Pfizer vaccine is being prioritised for those above the age of 65 and those between 16 and 17.
