WHO confirms safety, efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and urges Iraqis to register

Iraq 08:41 PM - 2021-04-11

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The World Health Organization (WHO) in Iraq refutes the fabricated statement recently circulated in an unofficial social media platform to undermine the citizens' confidence in the safety and efficacy of the COVID 19 vaccines.

 

The Organization confirms that it does not use unofficial channels to release information on health issues including the COVID 19 prevention and vaccination measures.

 

The World Health Organization would like to reiterate that COVID 19 vaccines are a gamechanger in the fight against the pandemic, and confirms that the benefits of these vaccines outweigh any rare side effects. The World Health Organization calls upon citizens to continue registering for the vaccine and get vaccinated as soon as possible. We will stop this pandemic only when the majority of people in Iraq have taken the vaccine.

 

WHO affirms that the recent alarming surge in COVID 19 cases in Iraq is quite concerning, but the control of the epidemic is possible through the rigorous application of the precautionary measures and through the success of the vaccination campaign that the Ministry of Health is running in close collaboration with the World Health Organization and other partners.

 

Iraq is in the second wave of infections, recording record high daily new cases with about over 20,000 cases in the last three days. The Iraqi people offer no help with the insufficient participation in the vaccination process.

 

The Director of Baghdad's Rusafa Health Directorate, Abdul Ghani Al-Saadi, said on Saturday that 126,000 citizens have been vaccinated, out of a total of 40 million people in Iraq, which is a very small percentage in the process of community immunization despite the availability of vaccines.

 

Al-Saadi added in a press statement, that there is a fear of side effects and complications such as blood clots that have not yet been diagnosed by scientists, and their association with the vaccine.

 

Iraq has received 50,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine earlier on Sunday and it had previously received 336,000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and 50,000 of the Chinese-made Sinopharm and the vaccination campaign was launched through 700 outlets across the country. 

 

The country expects to receive 21 million and a half doses of vaccines from Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Sinopharm this month.

 

So far, Iraq has recorded over 925,000 coronavirus cases with more than 814,000 recoveries and over 14,700 deaths from the virus.

 

 

 

PUKmedia