“Iraqi travelers are obliged to present an international vaccination certificate for COVID-19 starting October 1, 2021, as well as the requirements asked for by the country they are traveling to,” said Nael Saad Abdlhadi, head of the aviation authority.
“An exception is made for people with special cases who can’t get vaccinated or were infected with the virus in the past three months,” he added, noting that they will have to present a negative PCR test prior to their travel.
Iraq and Kurdistan Region are seeing a third wave of infections, recording record high numbers of new cases over the past week. On Sunday, the Region recorded 2,178 cases while Iraq reported 9,147 cases.
Health officials are urging the people to get vaccinated as the more contagious Delta variant spreads, threatening to overwhelm the health sector.
The head of Sulaimani’s health department on Saturday asked people to not differentiate between the different vaccines because they are all good. Skepticism was high when the first vaccines arrived in the Kurdistan Region earlier this year. However, the numbers picked up when the Pfizer vaccine was available.
A total of 1,326,225 vaccine doses have been administered in Iraq so far, including the Kurdistan Region.
