1 million doses of Moderna vaccine pending approval

Kuwait’s Central Agency for Public tenders has approved the Ministry of Health’s request to purchase one million doses of the Moderna vaccine, local media reported.

The agreement is not final as the Ministry of Health is still waiting for the final approval from the state’s Audit Bureau. If approved, the value of the contract will be worth 12 million Kuwaiti dinars.

In the past 20 days, Kuwait recorded 25,408 new COVID-19 cases causing the Ministry of Health to sound the alarm.

Health officials warned that the rise in cases is probably an indication that the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is worse than the first in Kuwait.

For almost a month now, the Ministry of Health has been reporting at least 1,000 new COVID-19 cases daily. Not only have the cases been increasing but so has the number of deaths and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) patients.

The decision to supply the Moderna vaccines comes as Kuwait is working towards vaccinating 70 per cent of the country’s population.

To date, of the one million residents and citizens that pre-registered for the COVID-19 vaccines around 500,000 residents and citizens have received at least the first jab.