45% Kuwaitis refuse to get vaccinated

KUWAIT CITY: As the countdown begins for the world to receive the Pfizer vaccine against Coronavirus began, Ministry of Health continues adhering to the policy of suspicious silence- with regard to community awareness, urging citizens to take the vaccine after a questionnaire that included more than 10,000 people, indicating 45 percent of them have refused the vaccine, reports Al-Qabas daily.

Ministry of Health’s failure to carry out the awareness campaign to prepare society for the stage after the arrival of the vaccines contracted has become the subject of criticism from the local circles.

The ministry should have launched a huge awareness campaign through official channels with the use of available experienced and qualified doctors to explain the importance of taking the vaccine, instead of bringing in vaccines, which nobody would take in the future.

Ministry of Health had concluded preliminary agreements to import 5.7 million doses of the Corona vaccine from three international companies, which are sufficient for nearly 2.8 million people, distributed on the basis of one million doses from Pfizer, 1.7 million from Moderna, and 3 million from Oxford-AstraZeneca.

However, contracting this millionth quantity of vaccines opens the door to questions about the reasons for exaggerating quantities that exceed the needs of citizens and residents, as the number of doses is sufficient for more than 2.8 million people, while the vaccines do not include those under the age of 13.

The import of such quantities of vaccine may enter the circle of suspicion and rejected by State Audit Bureau in completing the contracts, because the doses may exceed needs, with the large numbers refusing to take the vaccine.