Vaccination bid at fever pitch

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Kuwait passes Saudi, at 4th place

KUWAIT CITY, April 27: Kuwait over the past few days has increased the tempo to vaccinate citizens and residents against the ‘Covid-19’ virus, to surpass Saudi Arabia in the global immunization index, and to return to fourth place in the Gulf and 41 in the world, after having immunized 25.6 percent of the population, or about 1.94 million citizens and residents. The spokesman of the Ministry of Health, Dr Abdullah Al-Sanad said crossing the million barrier does not mean the end of the virus, but rather, reaching an advanced stage in the journey to eradicate the epidemic.

Al-Sanad said exceeding a million doses means that we have come a long way in the journey back to normal life, which everyone has longed for, and it also means that we have become a large class of society immune from infection with this disease, and that we have achieved a greater percentage of immunity and we have contributed to alleviating the pressure on the health system. He added, he aspires to achieve a greater percentage in the coming weeks and months, while at the same time valuing the efforts of doctors, technicians, paramedics and all those in charge of vaccination centers and units in the country.

The Ministry of Health affirms that the anti-COVID-19 vaccines permitted in the country are Pfizer Bionic, Astra- Zeneca Oxford, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, reports Al-Qabas daily. In a letter addressed to the Director General of the Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health Dr Mustafa Redha assured that the list of approved vaccines will be updated as always. He explained that the exemptions and facilities granted to the recipients of the vaccines approved by the State of Kuwait, whether the vaccination was done in Kuwait or abroad, include allowing home quarantine instead of institutional quarantine in accordance with the Cabinet’s resolution issued on March 22, 2021.

As per the resolution, those who have taken two doses of the approved vaccine at least two weeks prior to arrival in the country, those who took first dose five weeks prior to arrival, and those who recovered from COVID-19 and took at least the first dose two weeks before arrival will now have to spend only seven days under home quarantine. However, Dr Redha stressed the need to continue with the PCR test – a nasopharyngeal swab for detecting COVID- 19 virus – 72 hours before arrival, upon arrival, and after the end of the home quarantine period.

By Marwa Al-Bahrawi Al-Seyassah Staff and Agencies

This news has been read 63991 times!