MOH develops a vaccination plan that includes employees and travelers

Baghdad - INA 

The Ministry of Health revealed, today, Thursday, the possibility of taking measures during the month of Ramadan, while announcing a plan for vaccination from Corona that includes all employees and travelers.

The epidemiological situation
Minister of Health Hassan Al-Tamimi said in an interview with the Iraqi News Agency (INA), that "whoever observes the epidemiological situation today and reviews the Ministry of Health data since mid-2020, will discover the seriousness of the second wave and the difficulty of the situation," indicating that "the ministry warned that this A severe wave that may affect children, youth and the elderly, is more dangerous than the first. "
He added, "Since the month of June, the Ministry of Health has begun preparing an integrated infrastructure to cope with this crisis, and there is a very large number of injuries that reached double what happened in 2020," noting that "the infrastructure in the Ministry of Health took control of the situation, but today the infection rate increased from 2." % To 18% of the number of examinations, but we note that the death rate is still low, as it was in the middle of 2020, about 7%, and today we have reached 1.6%.

He continued, "All the existing Corona strains are the British strains themselves, and there is availability of medicines, medical supplies and a sufficient number of intensive care beds, as we have reached 50 thousand examinations in addition to the ability of our doctors and our heroic angels dealing with this pandemic."

The possibility of the emergence of new strains 

Al-Tamimi warned of "new Corona waves that may hit Iraq," explaining, "Today we have the infrastructure and we have the capabilities, but what we fear and what we always warn about in the data is that the rate of injuries and cases is more than the Ministry of Health understands with great complacency by citizens and lack of commitment to the health measures. "

He stressed that "the citizen today does not take into account the seriousness of the situation, and we have noticed the great problems that occurred as a result of the lack of capabilities," noting that "international countries announced the complete collapse of their health systems, although they are advanced systems, and as a result of the increase in the number of injuries and their severity, there may be an evolution of new strains that lead To the occurrence of major problems in the Iraqi health system.

The Minister of Health indicated that "the vaccines for the target groups are used from the age of 18 years and over, and therefore today the largest proportion of the Iraqi people are actually under 40 years old," noting that "the expiration date of some vaccines is within 3 months, others within 6 months, and some up to two years." .
The Minister of Health clarified that "the ministry provides vaccines, and the greater the demand for vaccination centers, the more contracting will be," pointing out, "We do not want there to be a waste of the number of vaccines quickly to Iraq. "

Reassurances regarding the AstraZeneca vaccine

Al-Tamimi stressed that "these vaccines are approved by the World Health Organization, and we note that every medicine has side effects, at a time that more than 500 million people have received the vaccine and a very small percentage of side effects appear on them, and it may be for reasons other than the vaccine, "pointing out that" the vaccination process in Iraq is proceeding with a high flow, after we vaccinated 126,000 citizens. " 

The Minister stressed that " The Minister of Health indicated that "this body deals with vaccines approved by the World Health Organization and obtains one of the international certificates (FDI) or (skilled) or (imam) and according to the presentation of companies trying to enter the Iraqi market," indicating that " The ministry is communicating with Russia to obtain the Sputnik vaccine. "
The minister pointed out that "the amount of vaccine produced does not match the global need, and therefore there is a global demand and companies notice countries that do not use the vaccine. 
Therefore, obtaining vaccines depends on the largest coverage of vaccination carried out by health institutions, and the reluctance of citizens will lead to companies' reluctance to supply Iraq." Vaccines as a result of their limited use, given that there is a global demand. 


The Ministry's projects 

The Minister of Health pointed out that "the ministry has 322 projects under completion, and we have other projects, including 24 hospitals, in which work continues."

He added, "In 2022, we will notice a complete change in the Iraqi health situation after the introduction of modern hospitals," noting that "private hospitals must compete with government hospitals."

He explained that "the new hospitals that will enter service in Najaf, Nasiriyah, Basra, Amarah, Laboratories, Husseiniya and the Center for Hematology in Medicine City will be with high technologies and advanced services more than the level of the region," stressing that "there is negotiation with international companies to help us in managing these hospitals that will provide services for free and the Ministry And the government will bear the funds. "

He continued, "We have a great tendency to conduct all advanced operations inside Iraq by bringing in foreign teams to train Iraqi doctors' students so that they will be an incentive to prepare a generation of doctors capable of performing complex operations, which were previously conducted outside Iraq," considering that "what has been achieved in the Ministry of Health during The past 6 months have not been achieved in 10 years. "