The Ministry of Health’s (MoH) decision to extend the gap between the two doses has sparked a wave of discontent among various segments of the society, Al Qabas daily reported.
Many citizens and expats are eager to complete their vaccination procedures to travel abroad. There were some who also criticized the delay from MoH in introducing the Moderna vaccine into circulation, when America and Europe immediately started distributing the vaccine after the Pfizer vaccine, and it has proven to be just as effective as the Pfizer vaccine by about 95%.
MoH are exerting all efforts to contain the Coronavirus epidemic, health officials informed Al-Qabas daily that Kuwait has contracted three international companies to import shipments of more than 10 million doses of approved vaccines.
These officials are confident that this number of vaccines will cover the population, including students, in the future, in addition to securing the booster doses that may be needed next year to deal with the mutated viruses.
MoH decided yesterday to extend the period for administering the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine to 6 weeks after the first dose, but for those over 60 years and for those patients with chronic diseases, the period of 3 weeks will remain between the two doses.
The ministry said that it was also decided to administer the second dose of the Oxford vaccine within a period of 3-4 months after the first dose, due to the delay in receiving the shipments from the manufacturers.