COVID-19 vaccines delivered to Yemen cover only 1.5% of population: UN

SANAA, Yemen (AA) – Coronavirus vaccine doses received by Yemen are enough to only 1.5% of the country’s population, according to the UN.

“War-torn Yemen has so far received COVID-19 vaccine doses enough to cover only 1.5 percent of its population,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a Twitter post.

The Yemeni government previously received only about half a million doses of COVID-19 vaccines provided by donors. Yemen’s population is about 30 million.

As of Friday evening, the total number of coronavirus infections in the areas under the control of the Yemeni government rose to 9,843, including 1,905 deaths.

Yemen has been engulfed by violence and instability since 2014, when Iran-aligned Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.

A Saudi-led coalition aimed at reinstating the Yemeni government has worsened the situation, causing one of the world’s worst man-made humanitarian crises with 233,000 people killed, nearly 80% or about 30 million needing humanitarian assistance and protection, and more than 13 million in danger of starvation, according to UN estimates.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara