Qatar offering COVID vaccines to Afghanistan evacuees yet to transit

FILE PHOTO: Pharmacy manager Larren Suh displays the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., December 16, 2020. Craig F. Walker/Pool via REUTERS

DUBAI (Reuters) - Qatar is offering COVID-19 vaccines to evacuees from Afghanistan who are temporarily staying in the Gulf Arab state, which has been facilitating global evacuation efforts since the Taliban seized Kabul, the foreign ministry said on Thursday.

Qatar, which hosts the largest U.S. military base in the region, has so far helped evacuate more than 40,000 people to Doha and will continue to facilitate international efforts in "the coming days", the ministry said in a statement.