Vaccination In Kuwait Is Moving At A Very Slow Phase

At a time when the countries of the world are racing to vaccinate the largest segment of their population with anti-Corona vaccines, Kuwait is still out of the race, as only 12,000 citizens and residents of the total population of about 4.8 million people, equivalent to 0.25%, have been vaccinated. In world numbers.

Health sources criticized the very slow pace of bringing vaccines from abroad, and the slow pace of granting them to the most priority groups, noting that despite the great financial capabilities of Kuwait, and the great support by the Council of Ministers for health authorities in contracting to import vaccines, the situation on the ground is proceeding disproportionately. Absolutely, given the seriousness of the epidemic, the speed of its spread and its transformation around the world.

The sources confirmed to Al-Qabas that societal immunity to besiege the epidemic will only be achieved by vaccinating 65% of the population, and by accelerating the pace of vaccination with Corona vaccines, which are able to repel new strains of the virus that Kuwait is not immune to.

According to Al-Qabas’s reading of vaccination rates in 10 countries around the world, Kuwait has finally come out of the classification, while Israel ranked first by vaccinating 21% of its 9 million people, followed by the UAE by vaccinating 11% of its population, and Bahrain came third with more than 5%, then America is about 2%, then Denmark is about 1.98%.

And in what full details
Despite the broad powers granted by the Council of Ministers to the health authorities to bring in the required vaccines to besiege the Corona epidemic, Kuwait has emerged from the global and Gulf race to grant vaccinations to the population, and to provide large quantities of contracted vaccines.

While the countries of the world are racing to seize and import large quantities of anti-virus vaccines, with its disclosure of the number of recipients of vaccinations out of the total population of those countries, the Ministry of Health is still unclear about the quantities that have arrived in the country or even that will arrive in the form of monthly payments, From this month until the coming months, a matter that raises the concern of observers of the local health issue.

According to Al-Qabas sources, the number of those who received the vaccine in the country did not exceed 12 thousand of the total population of about 4.8 million people, with a percentage not exceeding 0.25%, criticizing this slow pace, as all those who took the vaccine are in the first grades, in addition to the elderly and those with chronic diseases And others, which is a very small segment compared to the number of the population.

The figures obtained by Al-Qabas indicate that the United Arab Emirates greatly surpassed Kuwait, as it was able to vaccinate about 11% of its population of more than 9 million people, while Bahrain managed to vaccinate more than 5% of its population of more than 1.5 one million population.

New strains

While the world is witnessing rapid developments of the virus and the discovery of new strains that have reached more than 34 countries so far, which caused a new wave of closures in those countries, parallel to their seizure of quantities of internationally approved vaccines, such as Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca-Oxford, especially by the European Union countries, Which has succeeded in reserving quantities commensurate with the recent developments of the virus and its seriousness.

At the local level, the Ministry of Health has not yet announced, and more than two weeks after the start of the vaccination campaign for Covid-19, about the total number of recipients of the Pfizer vaccine from the targeted groups in the current stage, such as medical staff, the elderly, people with chronic diseases, workers in the first grades and people with special needs, This raises more than one question about the turnout and the numbers of vaccine recipients.

Community immunity

According to health sources, access to community immunity requires accelerating the pace of taking Corona vaccines by all segments of society as soon as possible, and by importing the majority of internationally approved vaccines, given the availability of material capabilities of the Ministry, and the absence of any significant obstacles regarding the approvals issued by Before the regulators.

The sources pointed out that this societal immunity requires vaccination of about 65% of the country's population.

She indicated that the medical efforts made by the Ministry's teams cannot be denied from the beginning of the virus’s entry into the country until today, but that the developments of Corona and its new strains require taking more decisions aimed at vaccinating the largest segment of society with approved vaccines, especially in light of the winter disease season. Currently, such as seasonal flu, pneumonia, high or low temperatures, as well as respiratory diseases in general.

Global ranking

In addition, according to «Reuters», Israel has become a pioneer in the vaccination campaign against the Corona virus in the world, as the vaccination rate in it reached about 21% of the country's population of 9.3 million people, in about two weeks, and thus the countries of the world topped in vaccination However, Kuwait, whose population is much smaller than this country, is still crawling towards the path of vaccinations.

According to the report, there are factors that helped Israel lead this global race in vaccination, including early demand, a lot of payment, digital distribution, and expansion of supply, and the biggest decision is to pay a premium (an insurance premium, meaning the difference in value) to obtain early vaccines.

Health Care

The Israeli authorities did not publicly say what they paid for the vaccine developed by the American company Pfizer and the German partner Biontech, but one of the officials, who refused to reveal his identity, said that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "pays about $ 30 per dose of the vaccine, or about twice the price abroad." Israel has also offered pharmaceutical companies a promise of a speedy launch that could serve as a model elsewhere, with fast results from a small country with a global healthcare system, patient data stored centrally, and technological savvy to ensure a digital distribution network.

Why blackout?

While the Ministry of Health was absent from disclosing the proportions of vaccine recipients out of the total population, health sources confirmed that the delay in the arrival of quantities may lead to an acceleration of HIV infections in exchange for not

A sufficient percentage of the population has received vaccinations, especially since the number of people who were infected with corona until the day before yesterday reached 154,314 injured, 149007 of whom were cured, while the total number of deaths from the disease reached 943 people. The sources asked: "Why obscure the number of vaccine recipients?"

Where is the new hall ?!
Despite the ideal preparations to receive vaccines and start the vaccination campaign, the opening of Hall 6 in the exhibition grounds has not yet taken place, as only Hall 5 at the Kuwait Vaccination Center continues, which means that its opening depends on the arrival of other quantities of the "Pfizer" vaccine or other, in addition to Not to establish additional sites for vaccinations, such as those mentioned by Ministry officials, whether in Jahra or Al-Ahmadi governorate.

Pandemic activity
Health sources said that the number of people vaccinated with anti-corona virus vaccines around the world has exceeded 25 million people, pointing out that the global virus activity is behind separate countries seizing quantities of vaccines for their people, and starting to use it on a large scale there. And it called for an increase in the frequency of vaccinations in Kuwait, similar to neighboring countries, as the stability of the epidemiological situation locally depends on adherence to health requirements, and to obtain vaccinations as soon as possible.

300 million doses in Europe
Euronews.com reported that the European Union has provided 300 million additional doses of vaccines from "Pfizer - Biontech" - doubling the current number of vaccines, but the leaders of France and Germany said that they are "determined to continue" a collective strategy to buy vaccines at the European level. The office of French President Emmanuel Macron said, "This European coordination must include requests for vaccines and production sites in Europe." European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that 75 million of this new vaccine order will be available from the second quarter of the year, and the rest will come in the third and fourth. It has agreed to buy an additional 200 million doses, with an option to have another 100 million. "We have a contract already, so there will be no protracted negotiations. It is a proven vaccine, so it is mandated. Member states know the vaccine and the logistics behind it, which contributes to creating additional momentum for vaccination in Europe," she added.

10 drawbacks and minuses
1- The slow pace of importing quantities of vaccines, despite the availability of material resources.

2- Low demand for vaccination in the fairgrounds.

3- The opening of the second hall in the exhibition grounds was delayed to expand the vaccination slides.

4- Blackout on the numbers of vaccinated people, until now.

5- Exposing the country to the acceleration of HIV infections, due to the lack of vaccination of a large proportion of the population.

6- Failure to take advantage of the powers granted by the Council of Ministers regarding the import of vaccines.

7- Failure to keep pace with the plans of neighboring countries regarding vaccination and bringing vaccines.

8- Not activating the media plan to raise awareness of the importance of taking the vaccine.

9- Weak implementation of the plans set for dealing with vaccines.

10- Vaccination of less than 2000 people per day is not commensurate with the size of the population.

 

SOURCE : ALQABAS

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