Permanent Representative of the Republic of Iraq to the United Nations Office in Geneva Meets with the Director-General of the World Health Organization
On 9 March 2021, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Iraq to the United Nations Office in Geneva, ambassador Abdulkareem H. Mustafa, met with Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization in Geneva, within the framework of the Ministry’s efforts to follow up on the issue of (COVID-19) vaccines.
Mr. Mustafa thanked the organization’s tireless efforts in helping countries to limit the spread of the (COVID-19) pandemic, stressing that the organization is the most important international organization operating under these global conditions of pandemic, he also explained that Iraq purchased from the (COVAX) platform the vaccine (AstraZeneca) to cover approximately 20% of the population, and inquiring about the date of the arrival of the first dose of the vaccine, amounting to (1,725,000) doses.
For his part, Dr. Ghebreyesus said that the first shipment of the first batch of vaccines, amounting to (568,000) doses, will be shipped to Iraq on 15 March 2021, and the second batch, amounting to (1,157,000) doses will be shipped on 15 April 2021, The rest of the 16 million doses purchased by Iraq will be shipped respectively. He explained that the organization is doing its best to speed up the arrival of vaccines to Iraq.
The two sides agreed to have joint coordination to follow up the aforementioned issue due to its importance, and Mr. Mustafa, on his part, emphasized that the Iraqi government is keen on preserving the safety of its citizens and that the priority now is to provide vaccines, especially as Iraq’s geographical location helps the spread of the pandemic.