Haruna Usman Abubakar, Amos Oladunni Abimbola, Gyeltshen Dawa, Colet Paolo, Almazan Joseph, Ahmadi Attaullah, Sarria-Santamera Antonio
Department of Medicine Nazarbayev University School of Medicine (NUSOM) Nursultan Kazakhstan.
Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences Ahmadu Bello University Zaria Nigeria.
Public Health Chall. 2022 Sep 2;1(3):e17. doi: 10.1002/puh2.17. eCollection 2022 Sep.
Kazakhstan announced the first cases of COVID-19 in March 2020. Within a span of a few months, the pandemic ravaged all regions affecting vulnerable populations due to limited access to healthcare services and co-morbidities. To minimize the spread of the pandemic, the government announced the implementation of containment measures such as quarantine, movement restrictions, and lockdowns among others. The collateral effect of the pandemic has disrupted economic and learning activities pushing several people below the poverty line. The pandemic revealed the weakness of healthcare including the acute shortage of essential medicines and lack of hospital beds. This calls for stringent measures to revive the economy and mitigate the reeling effect of the pandemic. As a result, Kazakhstan commenced COVID-19 vaccination efforts in February 2021. To date, about 47.8% are fully vaccinated pushing Kazakhstan closer to achieving herd immunity at the 60% threshold. However, the country faces challenges such as vaccine hesitancy and uncertainty surrounding vaccine effectiveness against new variants of SARS-CoV2, among others. This paper aims to explore the health and socioeconomic challenges caused by COVID-19 in Kazakhstan, control strategies, vaccination campaigns and progress towards herd immunity.
哈萨克斯坦于2020年3月报告了首例新冠肺炎病例。在短短几个月内，这场大流行肆虐了所有地区，由于获得医疗服务的机会有限以及存在合并症，弱势群体受到了影响。为了尽量减少大流行的传播，政府宣布实施诸如隔离、行动限制和封锁等遏制措施。大流行的附带影响扰乱了经济和学习活动，使许多人陷入贫困线以下。这场大流行暴露了医疗保健方面的弱点，包括基本药物严重短缺和医院床位不足。这就需要采取严格措施来振兴经济并减轻大流行的严重影响。因此，哈萨克斯坦于2021年2月开始了新冠肺炎疫苗接种工作。截至目前，约47.8%的人已完全接种疫苗，使哈萨克斯坦更接近实现60%门槛的群体免疫。然而，该国面临着诸如疫苗犹豫以及围绕针对新冠病毒新变种疫苗有效性的不确定性等挑战。本文旨在探讨新冠肺炎在哈萨克斯坦造成的健康和社会经济挑战、控制策略、疫苗接种运动以及群体免疫方面的进展。
