8 Subh, Kabul: The first shipment of the Indian-made coronavirus vaccine arrived in Kabul on Sunday, February 7. The shipment of 500,000 doses of coronavirus vaccine, which can cover 250,000 people, was delivered to the Ministry of Public Health by Raghuram S, Chargé d’Affaires of the Indian Embassy in Afghanistan.
Acting Minister of Public Health Waheed Majroh called India’s assistance in fighting the coronavirus in Afghanistan effective. He said that in the first phase, health workers who are at the forefront of the fight against the virus will be vaccinated. According to him, the coronavirus vaccine has been provided for 20% of the country’s population, and the vaccine is to be provided by health partners for another 40% of the country’s population.
The head of the Ministry of Public Health reassured the public on the coronavirus vaccine’s storage, saying that the best cold chain system for vaccine storage in the region was provided for the vaccines, with a capacity of five million doses at the ministry’s cold storage facility in Kabul. According to him, an online system would be set up on the website of the Ministry of Public Health, through which health workers in the provinces could register and be included in the vaccination program.
Raghuram S, the Charge d’Affaires of the Indian embassy in Kabul, said that the vaccine had been donated by the Indian people to the Afghan people, as part of the former’s continued aid to Afghanistan.
On the other hand, Majroh said that the safety of patients’ lives was one of the main missions of the health sector and that the Afghan Ministry of Public Health was the first ministry in the region to make the most concerted appeal for the coronavirus vaccine.
“We were one of the first countries to share the best plan for the implementation of the coronavirus vaccine with international health partners, based on the prioritization of those at risk and how to maintain and adapt the plan,” said the acting Minister of Public Health.
According to official statistics, more than 55,000 people in the country have been infected with the coronavirus so far, and more than 2,000 have died. Dastgir Nazari, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health, told 8 Subh on Saturday that the “Covishield” vaccine made in India had not been approved by the World Health Organization, but that it was expected to be approved within a week and then implemented in Afghanistan.
