Afghanistan begins COVID-19 vaccination drive

Afghanistan officially launched a COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Tuesday aimed at immunizing hundreds of thousands of people across the country. 

Health workers, Afghan Security Forces members, and journalists were the first volunteers to get doses of the Indian-made Covishield vaccine in a ceremony held at the Presidential Palace.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the campaign, President Ashraf Ghani stated: “Efforts are underway to provide Coronavirus vaccine to cover 40 percent of the population in the second round.” 

India donated 500,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine earlier this month.

The Public Health Ministry said that 250,000 people – mostly health workers and Afghan security forces and media workers – would be inoculated in the first stage.

Acting Health Minister Waheed Majroh stated: “The fair implementation of the Corona vaccine is the main responsibility of the Ministry of Public Health, and we call on the public, civil society, and the media to cooperate with the Ministry in terms of implementing this responsibility.”

Meanwhile, the Indian Ambassador to Kabul Rudrendra Tandon called for global solidarity to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

 “The Outbreak of Coronavirus has had serious effects on the world. In addition to grave economic impacts, it left casualties; therefore, it is impossible to fight COVID-19 without global solidarity,” Tandon stated.

 Afghanistan has officially registered 55,646 COVID-19 cases and 2,430 deaths