Syria receives over 200,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses
Damascus received 203,000 doses through the scheme designed to provide equitable vaccine access for lower-income countries, SANA news agency said.
UNICEF said the country has received 256,800 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, also accounting for areas in northwest and northeast Syria outside of regime control. The UN agency said priority is given to frontline healthcare workers across the country.
"The shipment of vaccines is a glimmer of hope for people in Syria. It will help health workers continue to provide life-saving services in a health system already overstretched as a result of the decade-long war," UNICEF said.
A total of 53,800 doses were delivered to northwest Syria on Wednesday, a Turkish-controlled region still witnessing armed conflict and waves of displacement. More doses are to arrive in the coming weeks, according to Reuters.
The autonomous Kurdish region in the northeast, known as Rojava, has called on international organizations to help in the fight against the virus.
The World Health Organization (WHO) office in Syria told Rudaw English late March that they will send 136,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Rojava in May as part of the 912,000 doses dedicated to Syria.
According to government figures from Damascus, 51,580 cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in Syria so far, but the actual number is likely to be much higher.
Rudaw
