Coronavirus vaccination reportedly reduced by about 80% in Afghanistan, just about a week after the Taliban took over Kabul, according to UNICEF. The UN agency warned that half of the few installments delivered to the country so far are close to the expiration date.
It is recalled that the Taliban took control of the Afghan capital on August 15, after they had already occupied most of the country earlier that month after the United States decided to withdraw its military forces after 20 years of war.
“There has been an 80% reduction in vaccination against COVID-19 since the Taliban took over,” a UNICEF spokesman told Reuters.
According to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency, the week that began on August 15, 30,500 people had been vaccinated in 23 of the country’s 34 provinces, up from 134,600 people in 30 provinces last week., according to data provided by UNICEF, which coordinates COVID-19 vaccines distributed worldwide by the World Health Organization’s Covax vaccine program.
“The reduction is understandable, as in situations of chaos, conflict and emergency, people will make their safety a top priority,” said the UNICEF spokesman, stressing that the UN agency is calling on all Afghan health workers, including women, to take action. to return to their jobs.
The spokesman declined to comment on whether the reduction vaccinations It is also a result of the Taliban’s reservations about vaccines, but warned of the dangers posed by a prolonged slowdown in the vaccination campaign.
Nearly two million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine distributed in Afghanistan, about half of what has been distributed so far, expire in November, a UNICEF spokesman said.
The data of the WHO show that only 1.2 million doses have been administered since August 20 in Afghanistan, which has a population of 40 million.
Gavi, which co-leads Covax with the WHO, said the program has so far distributed more than four million doses to Afghanistan.
“Our priority today is to work with the UNICEF and WHO country offices. “(…) To ensure our ability to continue the country’s vaccination program against COVID-19,” said a Gavi spokesman, who declined to comment on whether the vaccinations were prevented by the Taliban.
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