Kuwait City: As Kuwait began administering the first round of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine on Thursday, more than 1,000 people were given the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Amongst those vaccinated, were Kuwait’s Prime Minister, Sabah Al Kheled Al Sabah, the Minister of Health, Dr Basil Al Sabh, and several MPs above the age of 65.
The vaccination process began after Kuwait received its first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine on Wednesday, which included 150,000 doses.
Those that are being given priority in the first batch of the vaccine are: frontline workers, medical professionals and those above the age of 65.
Vaccine anticipation
On Wednesday there were around 73,000 people pre-registered to take the vaccine, after the first day of the vaccination campaign the number jumped to over 100,000.
The Ministry of Health created a website that allows those wanting to take the vaccine to pre-register so that the government can indicate who should be given priority, a person’s medical history and have an estimate of how many doses they should order.
It is likely that the second batch of the Pfizer vaccine will contain 450,000 doses and is expected to arrive in Kuwait in the first quarter of 2021, an informed source told Al Anba.
Storage and logistics
The Mishref fairground has been prepared and organised to serve as the vaccination headquarters. Given that the Pfizer vaccine needs to be stored at -70 degrees Celsius temperature, special fridges have been placed at the fairground to ensure that the vaccine is being stored correctly.
Around 400 employees have been trained to administer the vaccine, operate as administrative staff and ensure everybody is adhering to the health and safety measures put in place by the Ministry of Health.
