Since the Taliban takeover "there's been an 80% drop in people reached with COVID-19 vaccines," a spokesperson for UNICEF told Reuters. "The drop is understandable, as in situations of chaos, conflict and emergency, people will prioritize their safety and security first," the UNICEF spokesperson said, noting the U.N. agency has been calling on all Afghan healthcare workers, including women, to return to work. Nearly 2 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine delivered to Afghanistan, which is about half of the total so far, expire in November, the UNICEF spokesperson said. WHO data show that only 1.2 million doses had been administered as of Aug. 20 in Afghanistan, which has a population of 40 million. Gavi, which co-leads Covax with the WHO, said the programme has so far delivered over 4 million doses to Afghanistan.
