The Turkish Trauma and Burn Medical Center, based in Saida, has opened a corona vaccination center raising the number of centers in Saida to two.

The vaccination campaign has kicked off in Saida, under the patronage of the Ministry of Public Health, and the process started by inoculating Red Cross volunteers.

Caretaker Minister of Public Health Hamad Hassan said: “We are very close from achieving our goal, and we look positively to the future despite all the challenges.”

Hassan added that cooperation with the Turkish embassy and Saida Municipality, the Turkish hospital is slated to start operating end of March.

“The inoculation process is going very smoothly despite all the rumors, and the campaigns we have witnessed.  The National Committee for Covid-19 vaccines along with the Ministry of Health are putting efforts for immunizing the whole community.

Hassan said that ministry is working to secure AstraZeneca vaccines, indicating that around 192,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine will arrive to the country on March 15. He added that the ministry is working according to the plan and the program it has already set, and the obstacles the country has faced during the first two weeks are nothing compared to what is happening in the most developed countries.

Hassan explained that the ministry has booked the vaccine quantities four months ago, taking into consideration the initiatives adopted by Member of the Parliaments, institutions, and syndicates. He added that some pharmaceutical companies stipulated that they only sell the vaccines to the government. “We didn’t ask European and American countries to prohibit selling the vaccine to the private sectors but contrariwise we have several meetings in this regard and we will facilitate all these agreements,” he said.

Some Member of Parliaments have imported the vaccine on their own, and Hassan said in this regard: “It is true that some politicians and political parties imported vaccines and used them for their relatives, but this is neither the ministry’s responsibility nor the National Committee, it is rather the custom’s and security forces’ responsibility.” He added that the latter should stop smuggling and prohibit the entrance of such products. He also said that the ministry will facilitate the procedures for those who took the vaccine internally or abroad through doing tests that prove their immunity against covid. ”

He pointed out that the ministry is amending the strategy that was applied before, and will take more age groups. Citizens are required to register their age which is an essential factor to secure justice and transparency.”