The Minister of Public Health, H E Dr. Hanan Mohammed Al Kuwari has said that restrictions for those who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 and regular testing will be in place until a large number of people are vaccinated across the world to a level that can eliminate the virus.
The Minister was speaking at a session ‘The Economics of Ecology and Public Health’ at the Qatar Economic Forum, Powered by Bloomberg. During the session, she also stressed the importance of testing to ensure the safe reopening of different businesses and economic activities.
“As long as the global level of vaccination has not reached the level where the virus has been suppressed, it’s important to protect the community by imposing restrictions or additional tests. Testing is a very safe way of opening businesses when you are not vaccinated. So vaccination reduces the need for continuous testing. But with an unvaccinated population, it is imperative to continue to test at such regular intervals,” she said.
Dr. Al Kuwari was optimistic that Qatar could reach herd immunity. She added that the Ministry of Public Health is working to know how things will look like once community immunity is reached.
“We have the evidence that vaccination significantly reduces the spread of the virus but not completely. So what it will look like after global testing policies and global herd immunity reached is still something to be worked on. But we are very optimistic that with most countries reaching a sufficient level of vaccination, it will lead to fewer restrictions and less testing and more opening up of countries and economies,” said the Minister.
In reply to a question about approving Pfizer-BionTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines in Qatar, the Minister agreed that it was a “smart bet,” as the vaccines have proven to be most effective.
“From the onset of the pandemic, it was apparent that for us to get out of it, we need to vaccinate our population, and there needs to be a global vaccination drive. So the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani was very clear in that direction, and we were asked to make sure that we procure the most effective and safe vaccine.”
During her conversation with Simone Foxman, Middle East Correspondent, Bloomberg Television, Dr. Al Kuwari also shed light on women’s empowerment in Qatar, being the only woman in the cabinet and the prominent role she played in the fight against COVID-19.
“Father Amir H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani have been the biggest supporters of women, their education, and women empowerment in Qatar. As you can see, Qatar has the largest number of educated women, more women graduating from universities and women working in very important sectors across the country,” said the Minister. She also highlighted women consist a majority of the health sector workers.
