Kuwait City: On Friday, the Ministry of Health stated that there have been no deaths as a results of taking the COVID-19 vaccine in Kuwait.
In the statement, the Ministry of Health also indicated that the protection or immunity from COVID-19 begins gradually and increases with time after a period of not less than 10 to 14 days after the vaccination.
Since Kuwait began its vaccination process two months ago, the COVID-19 committee at the Ministry of Health has been monitoring those that took the vaccine to ensure that there are no major negative side effects to taking the vaccine.
Distributed vaccine
As the fifth shipment of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine arrived in Kuwait this week, the total number of doses received reached 550,000, with 150,000 in the first shipment and 100,000 in every other shipment following, a source told Al Jarida.
The Pfizer vaccine is being prioritized for those above the age of 65 and between the ages of 16-17, as only those above the age of 18 can receive the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Kuwait has received one shipment of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which contained around 200,000 doses. A second shipment is expected to arrive during the first week of March with around 400,000 doses.
Vaccination process
Earlier this week, a source told Al Jarida that around 170,000 citizens and residents received the COVID-19 vaccine. Around 86.8 per cent of the total number of people who have been vaccinated are Kuwaitis.
On Sunday, the Ministry of health began vaccinating non-Kuwaitis starting off with the elderly and those with chronic illnesses.
The number of people that have pre-registered to receive the COVID-19 vaccine has reached over half a million citizens and residents.
