Kuwait City: With a possible delay in the arrival of the third batch of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, Kuwait's Ministry of Health has decided to keep the remaining quantities of the second shipment for those who received the first dose in early February, local media reported.
The Ministry of Health pointed out that there is an abundance of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, as Kuwait received 14 shipments since December. In the next few days, those who have already registered and are awaiting their first shot will be given the Pfizer vaccine.
Oxford vaccine
So far, Kuwait received two doses of the Oxford vaccine. The first shipment arrived in February and contained approximately 200,000 doses. The second shipment arrived earlier this month and contained approximately 129,000 doses.
The spokesman of the Ministry of Health, Dr. Abdullah Al Sanad, pointed out that studies showed that to receive the optimal effectiveness from the Oxford vaccine, the second dose should be administered after 12 weeks of the first dose. He added that Kuwait will be following that procedure.
The Ministry of Health stated that Kuwait will continue to administer the Oxford vaccine as it is safe and effective in protecting individuals against COVID-19.
Vaccine milestone
A few days ago, the Ministry of Health announced it had administered over a million doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
In recent weeks, Kuwait has ramped up its vaccination campaign as it plans to vaccinate two million people by September.
Several decisions have been put in place to speed up the process. First, the Ministry of Health announced last week that all citizens and residents above the age of 65 can head to the vaccination centres and get vaccinated without a prior appointment.
In addition, the Ministry of Health has been vaccinating workers across different sectors via mobile vaccination units.
