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Iraq
Members of the Iraqi civil defence disinfect an alley next to a local TV station in Baghdad on February 3, 2020. Photo: Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — China is donating 50,000 coronavirus vaccines to Iraq, the embassy in Baghdad stated on Thursday.
"We will never forget that after the pandemic's outbreak in China, Iraqi government and people expressed their condolences and support to China in various ways," the embassy stated, explaining its gift.
Iraq has not yet received any vaccines, but has approved the American Pfizer vaccine, authorized emergency use of the UK's Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, as well as China's SinoPharm.
"Iraq, like many other countries has pursued the emergency approvals of vaccines, rather than the standard approval, which takes a very long time," Wael Hatahit, the head of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Iraq emergency department, told Rudaw English last month, following the approval.
Baghdad made a deal with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in December to buy 1.5 million doses of its vaccine, with delivery expected this month.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was developed by a British-Swedish company and in clinical trials has shown 62 to 90 percent efficacy.
The SinoPharm vaccine is manufactured by and named after the China National Pharmaceutical Group, a Chinese state-owned company. Trials of the vaccine showed that it was 79% effective. It has been approved for use in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.
The vaccine donation is Beijing’s latest support for Iraq during the pandemic. In early March 2020, China sent a team of epidemic control experts to Iraq in order to help improve a national plan for epidemic prevention, according to the embassy. And it has helped construct a testing lab and donated protective gear, including 1.4 million masks.
As of Thursday, Iraq has recorded 624,222 COVID-19 cases and 13,091 deaths. The health ministry has warned Iraq could be entering a second wave of the virus as numbers of daily new cases have begun to increase, after weeks of decline.
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