The Ministry of Health has been given the approval to complete the necessary procedures to import the vaccine once it becomes available following an announcement by the US President Donald Trump that a vaccine to inoculate against COVID-19 will be available within three to four weeks, Al-Qabas daily reported. Kuwait’s Central Agency for Public Tenders (CAPT) has sanctioned the vaccine purchase, and now the decision is with the State Audit Bureau for the final approval for the ministry to forge an agreement with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) to supply the vaccines officially approved after passing the clinical trials.
The daily said, quoting sources, that the Ministry of Health has allocated $18 million (KD5.5 million) for the first set of vaccines that will be officially approved by the specialized international organizations. More than 1.7 million doses will be imported and in the first phase two doses will be administered per person, and more than 854,000 individuals of the country’s population will be vaccinated.
The first batch of vaccines is expected to arrive from more than 20 international companies that are currently undergoing tests for the COVID-19 vaccine. More than 30 million people around the world have been diagnosed with the coronavirus and 943,515 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. Some 20.4 million people have recovered.