Troops of the Arakan Army (AA) have been vaccinated with CoviShield COVID-19 vaccines produced in India since January 24, Dr Soe Win Paing, assistant director of the Rakhine State Health Department, told Mizzima.

The vaccination programme was launched after the military junta announced late last year that it would vaccinate the troops of the Arakan Army (AA) with the COVID-19 vaccine.

In five townships in northern Rakhine State, Yathedaung, Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Kyauktaw and Mrauk-U, about 85,000 vaccine doses have been earmarked to vaccinate AA troops and locals, according to the State Health Department.

"We plan to vaccinate people in five townships. It was a request from the AA,” said Dr Soe Win Paing. “In any case, it is planned to inject about 85,000 doses in five townships,” said Dr. Soe Win Paing.

Forty-four people in Mrauk-U Township, 314 in Buthidaung Township and 2,900 in Yathedaung Township, including AA troops and local residents, had been vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccine on January 24.

"AA presented how many vaccines they want for which villages. We do it according to the details of their presentation,” said Dr. Soe Win Paing.

The vaccination programme will also be launched in Maungdaw and Kyauktaw.

AA spokesman Khaing Thukha said on his Facebook page on September 21 that the people would be given priority over AA troops in Minbya, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Buthidaung, Yathedaung and Maungdaw townships to vaccinate with the COVID-19 vaccines received from the junta.

Fighting broke out between the AA and the junta troops in Rakhine State for almost two years, from December 2018 to November 2020.

In November last year, after the military coup, two clashes which lasted a few minutes, broke out between the AA and the junta troops in northern Maungdaw Township.

On January 18, military tensions between the AA and the junta troops occurred in the Pichaung area west of the Kaladan River in Kyauktaw Township, Rakhine State.