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Kazakhstan is a regional leader on vaccinations, but that’s not saying terribly much as vaccine rollouts across Asia have proceeded at slow paces relative to Western countries. Meanwhile, reports from Kazakhstan cite bureaucratic hurdles, hesitancy, and a lack of access to data about the country’s domestically-developed vaccine.
To date around 8.3 percent of the Kazakh population, or around 1.4 million people, have received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine. That figure has grown at a steep curve in recent weeks on the back of the availability of domestically produced doses of the Russian vaccine, Sputnik V, in addition to imported doses.
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NUR-SULTAN The fact that it hasn t completed its clinical trials hasn t stopped thousands of Kazakh citizens from getting their first shot of the domestically developed coronavirus vaccine QazVac.
The two-dose vaccine is still in its third stage of studies, which are expected to be completed in July. But QazVac s developers the state-backed Research Institute for Biological Safety Problems insists the vaccine is safe and effective.
The institute claims QazVac has shown a 96 percent efficacy against the virus during second-phase testing.
No serious side effects have been reported among the vaccine recipients since the QazVac rollout began on April 26. The Health Ministry says 50,000 doses of QazVac have been distributed across the Central Asian country of nearly 19 million people.
Posted: May 04, 2021 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: May 4
A healthcare worker prepares a dose of China s Sinovac Biotech vaccine for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a drive-thru vaccination station, as a mass vaccination program continues in Jakarta, Indonesia, April 30, 2021. It s an inactivated vaccine being used in countries around the world, but not in Canada.(Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/Reuters)
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