China to gift Georgia 100,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine

Georgia has plans to buy the Chinese Sinovac vaccine along with the Chinese Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine. Photo: Getty Images. 

Agenda.ge, 05 Apr 2021 - 11:53, Tbilisi,Georgia

The Chinese government will gift Georgia 100,000 doses of Sinovac vaccine in April, head of Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control Amiran Gamkrelidze stated earlier today. 

Georgia received 100,000 doses of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine last week and the country has plans to purchase the Chinese Sinovac vaccine in April, Gamkrelidze said. 

He stated that both vaccines are likely to be approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in mid-April and Georgia will launch vaccination only after. 

Currently China has about five coronavirus vaccines and two of them, Sinonac and Sinopharm, have been used internationally. 15 million doses of Sinovac vaccines have already been used in Turkey and about 500,000 doses in Azerbaijan,” Gamkrelidze said. 

The Beijing-based biopharmaceutical company Sinovac is behind CoronaVac, an inactivated vaccine.

It works by using dead viral particles to expose the body's immune system to the virus without risking serious disease response.

Turkey, which has authorized the shot, has reported interim phase 3 data showing CoronaVac was 91.25% effective in its local trial. 

Georgia received 100,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine on April 3 which is for 50,000 individuals. Photo: Health Ministry press office. 

Sinovac says it has delivered some 200 million doses of its vaccine to more than 20 countries. 

The shot has received emergency authorization or conditional marketing approval in more than 30 countries, including Hungary, Serebia, Turkey, Indonesia and Mexico. 

Georgian Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze stated earlier today that ‘there are no questions towards the two Chinese vaccines around the world. They are safe and effective.’ 

40 million individuals have already received the Sinopharm vaccine,” Tikaradze said. 

Chinese Ambassador to Georgia Li Yan has stated that 100 million doses of Sinopharm vaccine have been used in more than 50 countries. 

The vaccines are safe and very effective with minor side effects,” Yan said. 

Gamkrelidze said that Georgia will defeat the pandemic if 60 per cent of the country’s population receive coronavirus vaccines. 

Starting today individuals over 55 will be able to receive the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in Georgia. 

11,603 individuals have been vaccinated with Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines since March 15, 2021.