Iraq Approves 3rd COVID-19 Vaccine Shot for People Over 18

The Iraqi Health Ministry on Monday approved a third COVID-19 vaccine dose for people over age 18. Daily new cases in Iraq have risen sharply since January 1; 5,756 new cases were reported on Monday. Around 24,300 people in Iraq have died from the disease since the start of the pandemic. The country’s effective reproduction rate (R, the average number of new infections caused by a single infected individual) hit a high of 2.51 in mid-January and is now 1.96, the third-highest in the MENA region after Oman and Algeria. The decision to give adults a third jab aims “to increase the immunity of recipients of vaccines and protect them from the mutations of the virus, including omicron,” said Health Ministry spokesman Sayf al-Badr. A total of 57,865 people were vaccinated against COVID-19 in the past 24 hours across the country, bringing the total number of doses administered to 9,094,272, the Health Ministry said. About 15% of Iraqis are considered fully vaccinated.