Syria Still Deeply Needs COVID-19 Vaccines, Available Amount Not Enough - ICRC President

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 25th June, 2021) Syria is still facing an acute shortage of COVID-19 vaccines despite supplies from other countries and through the COVAX vaccine-sharing strategy led by the World Health Organization, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurer said in an interview with Sputnik.

"Within Syria, we have some vaccines which came to Syria from Russia and also minimally from COVAX, but it is far from covering the need," Maurer said on the sidelines of the 9th Moscow Conference on International Security (MCIS).

Commenting on the overall epidemiological situation in the middle Eastern country, the humanitarian organization's head said assessment was complicated due to internal issues, including displacement and poor infrastructure.

"The numbers with regard to COVID-19 are difficult to assess.

It is an issue but we do not know exactly what the dimension of the issue is. We are working with the health infrastructures in Syria to have a more accurate image," Maurer said.

He went on to stress the importance of COVID-19 vaccines coming to Syria, noting that their supply is a major challenge for all such fragile countries.

"We are still in less than 2% of all vaccines worldwide going to 40 or 50 most fragile countries in the world. And this is a big issue," Maurer added.

Apart from the years-long civil war ravaging Syria, sanctions imposed by the West on Damascus hinder the country's efforts to combat the deadly pandemic, as they include a ban on medical supplies to Syrian people.

This year's MCIS gathered defense officials and experts from nearly 50 countries. The forum ran from June 22-24.