Health workers in Myanmar on Wednesday became the first people in the Southeast Asian country to be vaccinated against COVID-19, five days after the first vaccines were delivered from India.
State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s leader, announced last week that front-line health workers would get priority for inoculations with the vaccine developed by Oxford University and the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. India, which manufactures the vaccine under license, donated 1.5 million doses to Myanmar, enough to inoculate 750,000 people.
On Wednesday, Suu Kyi observed vaccinations at a hospital in the capital, Naypyitaw, and told reporters that the inoculation campaign must proceed carefully because the government does not have all the supplies it needs. She said people would be monitored for side effects and be issued certificates that they have been vaccinated.
Health and Sports Minister Myint Htwe, right, receives COVISHIELD vaccine for the coronavirus from a health volunteer at a hospital Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. Health workers in Myanmar on Wednesday became the country's first people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, just five days after the first vaccine supply was delivered from India. (AP PhotoAung Shine Oo)
Suu Kyi, 75, is expected to be vaccinated Thursday.
Myanmar health authorities on Tuesday announced 411 new coronavirus cases, bringing the confirmed total to 138,368. The death toll increased by 13 to 3,082.
About 100 personnel were being vaccinated Wednesday at the Ayeyarwaddy COVID-19 Treatment Center in Yangon, the country's biggest city. It was set up last September with 1,000 beds to house coronavirus patients, and later also became a testing center.
Health workers wait to receive the Covishield COVID-19 vaccine at the Ayeyarwaddy COVID treatment center Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021, in Yangon, Myanmar. Health workers in Myanmar on Wednesday became the country's first people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, just five days after the first vaccine supply was delivered from India. (AP PhotoThein Zaw)
Myo Thet Naing, a health worker at the center, had no complaints after getting vaccinated.
“So far I feel nothing. It is all good,” she said.
Htet Aung Lin, a 19-year-old volunteer, said he was aware of the health threat when he decided to help out at the center, but after receiving a vaccine, “I feel very pleased and happy.”
In this photo released by the Indian Embassy in Myanmar, Indian Ambassador to India Saurabh Kumar, third from right, holds a sign with Prof. Zaw Than Htun, director-general of Medical Research Department under Myanmar's Health and Sports Ministry, in front of boxes of the Covishield vaccine delivered from India at the Yangon International Airport Friday, Jan. 22, 2021 in Yangon, Myanmar. Myanmar on Friday received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccine, a government-to-government gift of 1.5 million doses from India. (Indian Embassy in Myanmar via AP)
Associated Press journalist Aung Shine Oo in Naypyitaw contributed to this report.