Covid: Taliban's acting health minister asks people to get vaccinated

Stressing that the threat of COVID-19 pandemic has not yet vanished globally, the Taliban's acting Minister of Public Health Qalandar Ebad on Saturday asked people in Afghanistan to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

Ebad said that the threat of COVID-19 has not vanished yet from the world and Afghanistan, Khaama Press reported.

It further reported that in a video clip, Qalandar Ebad said protecting oneself is one of the obligations of the Islam religion and that vaccine is the most effective way to fight the COVID-19 virus.

Noting that Afghanistan has received millions of COVID-19 vaccines, Ebad said, "Fortunately, Afghanistan has imported millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccines that are now available in provincial centers of all provinces and some districts of the 34 provinces."

This comes as the threat of the pandemic is not so much serious in Afghanistan and the people have almost forgotten about the virus as it is going through the worst humanitarian crisis, Khaama Press reported.

The Taliban took over control of Kabul on August 15 and following this the country has been battered by deepening economic, humanitarian and security crisis.

Earlier, the ministry had said that they administer 21,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine across Afghanistan on daily basis, Khaama Press reported.