In the first round of Covid-19 vaccination the Afghan ministry of public health will cover 250,000 people in Afghanistan, Afghan health authorities announced.
Speaking at a news conference on Thursday, February 11, Wahid Majrooh, the acting minister of the Ministry of Public Health, said that health workers, education staffs, security and defense forces, and media workers are the first category of people who will be vaccinated.
Mr. Majrooh said the quality of vaccines, which are available in Afghanistan, has been attested by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Afghanistan has recently received 500,000 doses of vaccines donated by the government of India.
Majrooh said the government would receive another package of 16 million Covid-19 vaccines donated by COVAX.
“The Afghan government is able to vaccinate 60 percent of its citizens within 15 days. It depends whether other governments are willing to sell vaccines directly to us or not,” he said.
The government needs 653 million USD to buy Covid-19 vaccines. It has already allocated 333 million USD to purchasing the vaccine.
Elderly people, patients with diabetes, hypertension, and cancer are in the second group to receive Covid-19 vaccine.
According to official statistics provided by the ministry, 55,445 cases of coronavirus have been registered in the country so far. As many as 2,424 Covid-19 patients have passed away while 48,392 have recovered.
