In the past few weeks, residents of North and East Syria have seen their first major deliveries of doses of the COVID-19 Vaccine. At least 23,000 doses of the vaccine have arrived in North and East Syria. They have been distributed among the elderly, internally displaced persons at camps, medical personnel, and individuals in at-risk communities.
Starting at the end of May, vaccinations in North and East Syria have been conducted at the Hospital in the city of Hasakah, and clinics in the camps of Washo Kani, Sere Kaniye, al Hawl, and Arishah.
The supply of COVID-19 vaccines falls far short of what is needed to prevent further outbreak among the population of about five million people in North and East Syria. Dr. Jiwan Mustafa, co-chair of the Health Authority in the Autonomous Administration, has been in negotiations with the World Health Organization’s initiative for vaccine distribution, COVAX.
So far, more than 81 million doses in 120 countries have been delivered under the COVAX initiative. The WHO had announced that 200,000 doses of the vaccine had been shipped to Syria by the end of April under the COVAX initiative.
On Monday, June 21, the AANES Health Authority reported a total of 18,396 COVID-19 cases in North and East Syria. Of these cases, the authority reported 757 deaths.