UNICEF report: Covid-19 vaccinations fell by 80% in Afghanistan

August 26, 2021

According to UNICEF report, Covid-19 vaccinations have reduced by 80% in Afghanistan within the first week of Taliban’s control in the country.

Key Points

As per UNICEF, about two million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccines were delivered to Afghanistan. Half of the vaccines will expire in November.
About 30,500 people had been vaccinated in 23 of 34 provinces in between 15 to 21 Before August 15, 134,600 people were vaccinated in 30 provinces.
According to World Health Organisation (WHO) data, only 1.2 million doses had been administered as of August 20 in Afghanistan, that has a population of 40 million.

COVID-19 pandemic in Afghanistan

Coronavirus was first confirmed to have spread in Afghanistan when index case was confirmed on February 24, 2020 in Herat. There have been 139,051 confirmed positive cases as of July 16, 2021. 671,455 tests have been conducted for the same period. Kabul Province has the highest number of cases at 18,896. It is followed by Herat with 9,343 cases and Balkh with 3,431 cases. But according to a survey by Ministry of Public Health, approximately a third of the population (10 million people) had contracted the disease.

About Afghanistan

It is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and South Asia. It shares its border with Pakistan in the east & south, Iran in west, Turkmenistan & Uzbekistan in north, and Tajikistan & China in northeast. As of 2020, country is inhabited by 31.4 million people. Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, and Uzbeks are the common ethnic people in the country. It is a member of United Nations, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Group of 77, South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, Economic Cooperation Organization, as well as Non-Aligned Movement.