Kyrgyz health minister contracts COVID-19, 3 months after receiving vaccine

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan

The Kyrgyz health minister tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday, despite receiving a vaccine three months ago.

According to a statement by the Health Ministry, Alymkadyr Beishenaliev is working remotely after contracting the virus.

On March 29, Beishenaliev was one of the first to receive the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, doses of which were gifted by China.

The minister had earlier claimed that a tea prepared from poisonous aconite roots is effective against coronavirus. He said that they tested the plant extract on volunteers, and as many as 300 patients had recovered with the herb.

The Central Asian country has registered 118,981 COVID-19 cases and 1,964 virus-linked deaths. It began a vaccination drive in March and has so far administered 174,000 doses, according to Our World in Data, a tracking website.