Iraq Negotiates with Pfizer over COVID-19 Vaccine Once Available

Arab World

July 24th, 10:50am

Baghdad - Fadhel al-Nashmi

Iraq negotiates with Pfizer over COVID-19 vaccine once available. (AFP)

Iraq’s Health Ministry announced ongoing negotiations with representatives of the Pfizer Biopharmaceutical Company to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine once it is available and approved by the relevant international health and pharmaceutical organizations. In a statement on Thursday, the ministry said it held an extended meeting on Wednesday with the company’s representative in Iraq via video-conference at the ministry’s headquarters. The meeting was headed by the ministry’s Technical Undersecretary, Hazem al-Jumaili, in the presence of Director General of the Public Health Department Riad Abdul Amir, Haidar Hussein, the assistant director general of technical issues, and Director of the Immunization section in the Public Health Department. The health team affirmed during the meeting that the Ministry wants to provide the vaccine for Iraqis once the required tests are passed and approved by the World Health Organization and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They also agreed to continue bilateral talks to provide a safe and effective vaccine to the citizens as soon as possible, the statement read. Meanwhile, the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA) resumed international flights on Thursday after four months of travel suspension due to COVID-19 restrictions imposed by the government. Airports of Baghdad, Basra and Najaf witnessed an active movement of citizens travelling abroad, said an ICAA statement. However, Kurdistan’s Erbil and Sulaimaniyah airports did not resume their flights since they were not ready to apply the preventive health measures imposed, the statement noted. The Health Ministry announced 2,361 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday during the past 24 hours, raising the total number of infections to 102,226. It also reported 80 deaths, raising the toll to 4,122, while 2,258 more poplw recovered, bringing the total to 69,405.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2408916/iraq-negotiates-pfizer-over-covid-19-vaccine-once-available