Damascus, Jan 21 (Sputnik) Syria is gearing up to receive the first shipment of the vaccine against the coronavirus from the Gavi vaccine alliance in the beginning of April through the World Health Organization’s (WHO) vaccine distribution mechanism, COVAX, the director of the Ministry of Health’s emergency department, Tawfiq Hasabah, told Sputnik.
“Syria works to ensure the routine vaccination through the Gavi organization, which is affiliated with the World Health Organization and UNICEF. As for the coronavirus vaccine, there is joint cooperation with Gavi via the COVAX platform, which includes 93 countries and its duty is to secure the vaccine approved by the WHO. … The vaccine is expected to arrive in the beginning of April,” Hasabah said.
The country’s health authorities plan to vaccinate five million people at the first stage, the official added, noting that the volume of the first batch is estimated at 600,000 doses and is expected to cover 3 percent of the country’s 17.5 million population. In addition, no cases of mutated COVID-19 strains, including the UK type, have been recorded on Syria’s territory so far, Hasabah said.
When asked on the Syrian-Russian partnership ties in the healthcare field, the ministry’s representative said that there is close coordination between the two sides in all fields and at the highest level.
The COVAX Facility, which is co-led by Gavi, the WHO, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, aims to accelerate the development of vaccines against the coronavirus and ensure that all countries across the world have equal access to them. As many as 184 countries have already joined the platform.
According to the latest data provided by the Syrian health ministry, 13,313 cases of COVID-19 have been registered since the start of the pandemic, with 6,773 recoveries and 858 fatalities.
