Kuwait To Administer Second Dose Of Oxford Vaccine After 6 Weeks

Kuwait’s Ministry of Health has decided to administer the second dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine six weeks after the first jab, instead of three months, a local newspaper reported.

Citizens and residents began receiving messages for their second dose appointment in the past few days.

The decision came as Kuwait is speeding up the vaccination campaign to achieve herd immunity, 70 per cent of eligible people vaccinated, within one month.

Reports have revealed that the Ministry of Health received a new shipment of the Oxford vaccine that contains around one million doses.

Third dose

As a number of countries around the world are giving out a booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine, Kuwait is likely to begin administering a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine to at-risk groups by next month, a local newspaper reported.

A health official told the daily that those that will be receiving the booster shot are organ transplant patients, oncology patients and those with low or compromised immunity.

On the other hand, the World Health Organisation (WHO) urged countries to hold back on giving out booster shots at least until the end of September, as lower-income countries struggle and are experiencing shortages.

Vaccine progress

On August 14, the Ministry of Health announced that 2.668 million citizens and residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine. The statement also revealed that 68.4 per cent of those eligible for the vaccination have been inoculated.

Kuwait’s Prime Minister, Sabah Al Khaled Al Sabah, said two weeks ago that the country is on track to achieve herd immunity, where 70 per cent of the population will be vaccinated by the end of September.

 

 

SOURCE  GULFNEWS

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