Kuwaiti Diplomats Wait For Vaccination

11 May 2021 Coronavirus

Most of the Kuwaiti diplomats working in the Kuwaiti embassies and missions abroad have not yet received the COVID-19 vaccine despite the risk of their exposure to infection due to the nature of their work and their contact with the public, reports Al-Rai daily quoting informed sources. They explained that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, since January, limited the number of diplomats, their families and their companions allocated to various embassies of Kuwait in preparation for sending the vaccine doses to the countries in which they are present.

This was done in coordination with the health authorities of the host countries, as they are among the front-liners and part of the groups that are given priorities in vaccination. However, they are still on the waiting list. The sources indicated that the scarcity of vaccines and the delay in supplying shipments to Kuwait led the Ministry of Foreign Affairs not to send vaccine doses to the missions, especially since the available vaccine that can be shipped is only Oxford.

The shipments received regularly are Pfizer, which cannot be transported abroad due to reasons related to warehousing logistics. They revealed that some Kuwaiti diplomats abroad succeeded in obtaining vaccination through personal relationships in some countries, indicating that others had to return to Kuwait on leave in order to obtain the vaccine. The sources called on the Ministry of Health to place diplomats on its list of priorities, and secure the COVID-19 vaccine for them in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, especially since the next batch, which is scheduled to arrive in Kuwait within days, contains about 400,000 doses. They stressed that several countries have taken necessary steps to immunize their diplomats abroad, either by sending vaccines to the headquarters of the missions, or by carrying out evacuation operations for workers in embassies in order to vaccinate them.

 

SOURCE  ARABTIMES

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