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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Kurdish-administered northeast Syria (Rojava) has not received coronavirus vaccines promised by the World Health Organization (WHO), the head of the health board said late on Thursday. Vaccinations are taking place in the rest of the country after the delivery of more than 200,000 doses.
Areas under the control of the Syrian regime and Turkey-backed militants have received 203,000 vaccine doses from the WHO in the last couple of weeks, but Rojava’s hospitals have not received any, Jwan Mustafa told Rudaw’s Omar Kalo.
The WHO said on May 3 that the first batch of vaccines arrived in Qamishli "for high risk groups, primarily health workers at this phase."
According to Mustafa, that deliver was just 645 doses and they were sent to the regime-held hospital in the city.
“A very small amount has arrived in northeast Syria. However, we as the health board have not received any. They [WHO] say they will hand them over to the regime's offices in the area. This violates human rights,” said Mustafa.
The health official said that they currently need at least 100,000 vaccine doses for health workers and another million doses to vaccinate 25 percent of the region’s population.
The head of WHO’s office in Syria, Akjemal Magtymova, told Rudaw English in March that they will send 90,000 vaccine doses to Rojava in May via the COVAX system, created for nations and people who may not otherwise be able to access vaccines, such as refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs), and asylum seekers.
Rojava recorded 58 new cases of coronavirus and 12 deaths on Friday, bringing the total number of cases up to 16,466 and deaths to 657.
Hospitals in the northeast region have limited capacity and resources, including COVID-19 testing equipment. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) warned in late April that the only corona-testing lab in Rojava, located in Qamishli, could run out of tests within a week.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Thursday said the real number of cases is “believed to be much higher than what is reported as people continue to struggle to access testing and healthcare.”
“It is shocking that after one year into the outbreak, the region of Northeast of Syria still struggles to find the essential COVID-19 supplies,” says MSF Medical Emergency Manager for Syria, Crystal Van Leeuwen.
“There is a clear lack of laboratory testing, inadequate hospital capacity to manage patients, not enough oxygen to support those who need it most and limited availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health workers.”
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