Iraq receives new Sinopharm, Pfizer vaccine doses

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Over 200,000 new vaccine doses arrived in Iraq on Sunday, the country’s health ministry has said.

On Sunday morning, 49,000 doses of the US-produced Pfizer vaccine landed at Baghdad International Airport, the health ministry said. Later on Sunday, 200,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine arrived.

Like the Sinopharm vaccines sent to Iraq in March, the second batch of vaccine doses were “a gift from China to the Iraqi people,” health minister Hassan al-Tamimi said in the statement.

The delivery of Pfizer vaccine doses comes more than four months since the health ministry signed a deal with the pharmaceutical company to purchase 1.5 million doses of its vaccine.

With three different coronavirus vaccines now available in Iraq – Sinopharm, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer – the ministry called on people to register for vaccination online, part of the government’s roll-out campaign.

All vaccine types available in Iraq are safe and effective, Tamimi said.

"All rumors and misinformation that have been raised about vaccines are inaccurate and not based on any solid scientific basis… Iraq has not recorded any serious or moderate side effects or complications among citizens who received the coronavirus vaccine.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday refuted misinformation shared on social media that questioned vaccine safety and efficacy.

“The World Health Organization wants to emphasize that COVID-19 vaccines are an essential tool in fighting the pandemic and that the benefits of these vaccines outweigh any rare side effects,” the WHO in Iraq statement reads.

Iraq is currently in a second wave of infections, registering record high daily cases.

The country is due to receive millions of vaccine doses, but turnout for the jab has been low.

Iraq recorded 6,791 new cases and 35 deaths in 24 hours on Sunday according to the health ministry. Since the start of the pandemic, Iraq has recorded 918,155 cases and 14,678 deaths.