BAGHDAD: War-scarred Iraq is seeing thousands of new COVID-19 cases a day but few people wear face masks and even fewer are vaccinated, sparking fears of an 鈥渆pidemiological catastrophe.鈥�
Healthcare workers say they are battling not just the pandemic but also a widespread skepticism over vaccines, borne of misinformation and public mistrust in the state.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 like the vaccine or the mask,鈥� said Nehad Sabbah, 36, speaking on a Baghdad street and reflecting a widely held view. 鈥淚鈥檓 not afraid of getting sick.鈥�
Even as she acknowledged the risk of catching the novel coronavirus that is now infecting some 8,000 people a day in Iraq, she stressed that 鈥淚鈥檓 not going to take the vaccine.鈥�
Since the vaccine rollout began in March, Iraqi health authorities have fully inoculated only around 1 percent of the country鈥檚 roughly 40 million people.
Iraq 鈥� where the economy is still recovering from decades of war and insurgency and many people live in poverty 鈥� has recorded over 1.4 million COVID-19 cases and more than 17,000 deaths.
But across the capital, mask-wearing has become lax and restrictions have loosened considerably.
Sarmad Al-Qarlousi, who heads Baghdad鈥檚 Al-Kindi Hospital, was insistent that, unless far more citizens get jabbed, the country is spiraling toward 鈥渁n epidemiological catastrophe.鈥�
鈥淲e have entered the third wave and we have to be ready,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e are trying to control the disaster, and we are advising people to take the vaccine.鈥�
The hospital鈥檚 54 intensive care unit beds have been fully occupied all year, and there is a long waiting list.
In one of the air-conditioned rooms of the COVID isolation ward, a woman in her late twenties was gasping for air as a ventilator aided her ravaged lungs.
鈥淪he has been here for 15 days,鈥� said her 20-year-old sister Roqayya Abdel-Moutaleb as she gently stroked her arm. 鈥淲e come regularly to support her.鈥�
She has been taking turns with her mother to tend to her sister, while her nieces and nephews 鈥� prevented from visiting the hospital for fear of contracting the virus 鈥� fret over their mother.
Asked about her feelings about the vaccine, Abdel-Moutaleb however retorted firmly that 鈥渋t鈥檚 too risky ... this vaccine isn鈥檛 safe.鈥�
The UN World Health Organization says that the 鈥渁pproved COVID-19 vaccines provide a high degree of protection against getting seriously ill and dying from the disease.鈥�
It also says on its website that they 鈥渁re safe for most people 18 years and older, including those with pre-existing conditions of any kind, including auto-immune disorders.鈥�
Iraqi Health Ministry spokesman Saif Al-Badr blamed the general hesitation to get inoculated on a 鈥渕isinformation campaign which preceded the arrival of the vaccine.鈥�
Even doctors have been complicit in spreading false news. Hamid Al-Lami, a general practitioner, was arrested and banned from practicing medicine in May after asserting that the virus was curable with natural herbs.
Another rumor about vaccines which spread widely was the unfounded claim that they cause infertility.
Populist cleric Moqtada Sadr, with millions of ardent followers, initially lambasted US-manufactured vaccines but, after he received his first jab in April, registrations for the vaccine rose significantly.
SKepticism and apathy remain especially rife amid younger Iraqis, the 60 percent of the population aged under 25.
One of two young men smoking cigarettes in an upmarket Baghdad district said that 鈥渨e don鈥檛 trust the government or the types of vaccines it has brought.鈥�
Iraq has so far ordered 18 million doses of various vaccines, including AstraZeneca and Pfizer/BioNTech.
The Health Ministry鈥檚 Badr said that 鈥渢he situation so far is under control despite the obvious increase in cases.鈥�
He also said no cases of the highly contagious Delta variant had been recorded so far, even as it has flared in neighboring Iran and many other parts of the world.
Kholoud Al-Sarraf, dean of the pharmacology faculty at Baghdad鈥檚 Al-Esraa University, was not so optimistic and advocated a two-week lockdown to stem the rising caseload.
She also urged a stepped up effort to convince Iraqis to get vaccinated.
鈥淧eople are scared,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey say they would rather catch corona, which would give them natural immunity. That鈥檚 the general mindset.鈥�