Iraq approves the emergency use of two more COVID-19 vaccines

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iraq on Tuesday approved the use of two more vaccines in response to the coronavirus pandemic, state media announced.

Iraq’s top medicine approval authority, which has previously approved the American Pfizer vaccine, authorized the 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 on Tuesday following the approval.

“This is a preliminary step to import the Oxford and SinoPharm vaccine,” he added, noting that no steps have been taken yet to order the vaccines. “Iraq will still be importing the Pfizer vaccine, but it is impossible to get all of the required doses from one company; therefore, Iraq is trying to import vaccines from other companies.”

Iraq made a deal with the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in December to buy 1.5 million doses of coronavirus vaccine set to arrive in early 2021, the spokesperson for the health ministry, Saif Badr, told Rudaw on December 21.

Badr told Rudaw English on January 11 that Iraq will begin receiving the initial doses of the American Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine that would be arriving in February, weeks earlier than previously announced.

“The vaccine will be distributed free of charge to all segments of society,” Jawad al-Mousawi, a member of Iraqi parliament’s health committee, told Iraqi state media on Tuesday.

The MP reiterated that the initial distribution will prioritize specific groups of people, including Ministry of Health employees, the elderly, people with chronic diseases and the security forces.

“The vaccine will enter Iraq in two months,” he added

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was developed by a British-Swedish company. A clinical trial for the vaccine has shown it is 62 to 90 percent effective, according to the New York Times. In December, Britain authorized its emergency use.

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, according to SinoPharm as reported by the BBC.

Iraq has recorded 609,852 cases since the start of the pandemic, including 573,011 recoveries and 12,962 deaths.

Aso Hawezy, a spokesperson for the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) health ministry, told Rudaw on January 9 that insufficient information on when residents of the Region would be receiving the vaccine has led them to pursue additional avenues in securing immunization.

"We have contacted Pfizer in order to provide the people in the Kurdistan Region with vaccines, because it is unknown when exactly Iraq is going to provide the vaccine," he said.

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