SANAA, Yemen

The Yemeni government began a coronavirus vaccination campaign on Tuesday for the first time.

Ali Al-Walidi, an undersecretary of the Ministry of Health, told Anadolu Agency the campaign is taking place in 13 provinces and the other 22 "are under the control of the Houthi group."

He said the campaign will cover "317,363 health workers, the elderly and people with chronic diseases” and “is being implemented with the support of the WHO and UNICEF as well as and the King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Action."

Al Walidi said it would last “14 days and is implemented by a qualified health care of 1,740 health workers and distributed among 426 health teams."

He said the "AstraZeneca vaccine used in the vaccination campaign is safe and effective and provided by dozens of Arab and foreign countries to their citizens, and its effectiveness has been proven without concern of any harmful effects” and urged all health personnel to "work for the success of the vaccination campaign activities."

Yemen recorded 5,858 coronavirus cases including 1,132 deaths and 2,261 recoveries as of Monday.

The numbers do not include areas under the control of the Houthis who announced until May 18, 2020, only four cases were recorded, including one death, amid accusations that the rebel group was concealing the true numbers.

Yemen has been witnessing a continuous war for about seven years, which killed 233,000 people, and 80% of the population of about 30 million people have become dependent on aid in the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the United Nations.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat