AstraZeneca vaccine to be offered to individuals over 45 years of age in Georgia
Large-scale Covid vaccination sites will be set up in Tbilisi, Rustavi, Kutaisi and Batumi, where up to 2,000 people will be vaccinated against Covid-19 per day. Photo: Reuters.
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Individuals over 45 years of age will be able to get vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine, Deputy Health Minister Tamar Gabunia announced today.
Citizens over the age of 45 will be able to register for vaccination starting May 12.
Until now the AstraZeneca vaccine was only an offer to individuals over 55 years of age in Georgia.
Vaccination is currently available with Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinopharm vaccines in all regions of Georgia.
Those eligible for vaccination should visit booking.moh.gov.ge or call 15 22 to get registered.
Georgian health officials have decided to continue vaccination with AstraZeneca only for individuals over 55 years of age following statements from the European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organisation that say that unusual blood clots should be listed as a very rare side effect of the AstraZeneca vaccine for Covid-19.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili received the coronavirus AstraZeneca vaccine live on TV earlier today.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has approved the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use in all countries, giving the green light for this vaccine to be rolled out globally, including in Georgia.
Head of Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Amiran Gamkrelidze has received the Chinese Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine live on TV earlier today. Georgia received 100,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, which is an inactivated vaccine, earlier in April. The vaccine has around a 78% efficacy rate and is likely to be approved by the World Health Organisation by the end of this week. Gamkrelidze stated that ‘it is symbolic I was the first who received the vaccine in Georgia,’ adding that that the vaccine has already been used in 45 foreign states.
Georgia has reported 1,409 new cases of coronavirus, 1,256 recoveries and 27 deaths in the past 24 hours. In total, 40,275 tests have been conducted around the country of which 27,699 tests were rapid tests, while the remaining 12,576 were PCR tests.
Municipal transport, schools and public kindergartens have resumed operations across Georgia starting today. The decision was taken by the Interagency Coordination Council earlier today.
Georgia has received 43,200 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine this morning. These 43,200 doses of the vaccine will be administered to individuals registered for the second jab, the Georgian Ministry of Health says.
Georgia has reported a total of 1,808 new cases of coronavirus after conducting 15,268 PCR and 19,711 rapid tests over the last 24 hours. Out of the 1,808 new cases 1,046 were reported in Tbilisi.
Individuals over 16 will be able to receive the Pfizer vaccine in Georgia following the Georgian health minister's order, Interpressnews agency reports.
Georgia will neither buy, nor receive from donors the British AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine ‘as the demand for the vaccine is very low in the country,’ head of Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Amiran Gamkrelidze stated earlier today.