Baghdad The Ministry of Health announced, today, Tuesday, that quantities of the vaccine reached the country in the second half of this year, estimated at 20 times what it had previously received.

It said that the implementation of the Ministry’s procedures comes according to the directives of the Council of Ministers, and that the vaccination of employees will be at the beginning of next September, stressing that it will resort to a comprehensive curfew if the infections continue to rise.

The Director of Public Health at the Ministry of Health, Riyadh Al-Halfi, said in a statement to the Iraqi News Agency, that “confronting any strain of the Corona virus depends on adherence to preventive measures and vaccination,” noting that “it is possible to resort to a comprehensive curfew if the number of infections rises in a way that threatens the ability of hospitals to absorb them.”

He added, “the demand for the vaccine is gradually improving,” expecting “the number of vaccinators will increase with the availability of vaccines in the coming weeks, stressing that there are quantities of the vaccine that will reach the country in the second half of this year, estimated at 20 times what we received previously,” pointing out there is a plan to expand vaccination outlets and to send vaccination teams to overcrowded institutions such as universities, institutes, and others.”

Al-Halfi expected, “the increase in the rate of corona infections will continue for several days, with Iraq entering the third wave,” explaining that “this rise in the number of infections is not only in Iraq, but in most countries.”

He continued, “the pattern of the epidemic disease moves in waves, until the percentage of vaccinated people rises to more than 70 percent,” noting that “we do not rule out that this increase is due to the Delta strain, indicating that” the Ministry did not stop negotiating about Corona vaccines, explaining that “the Ministry requires the approval of the World Health Organization for a vaccine, and some vaccines didn’t get it.

Al-Halfi added that “the Ministry is following up the developments it receives from international organizations and takes appropriate decisions, in addition to the acceptability of the vaccine.”

Source: National Iraqi News Agency