Georgian health authorities launching free anti-flu vaccination for individuals in risk groups
The Georgian health ministry said the country had already purchased 200,000 doses of Sanofi pasteur quadrivalent influenza vaccine, recommended by the World Health Organisation, for the purpose. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
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Pregnant women, doctors, patients on dialysis, individuals with diabetes, HIV/AIDS and those in risk groups will receive vaccines against flu free of charge starting on Wednesday, the Georgian health ministry has announced.
The state body noted Georgia had already purchased 200,000 doses of Sanofi pasteur quadrivalent influenza vaccine, recommended by the World Health Organisation, for the purpose.
Individuals in the risk groups have been asked to apply to medical institutions in Tbilisi and other regions for the vaccines, with the list of venues providing the services listed on the official website of the national centre for disease control.
Only 95,000 doses of flu vaccine have been administered in Georgia since early October, though the government purchased 200,000 doses and encouraged at-risk groups and their families to receive the vaccine, head of Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control Amiran Gamkrelidze says.
The Georgian Health Ministry has announced that pregnant women and socially vulnerable individuals will receive antiviral medication Tamiflu free of charge upon doctor’s prescription.
The amount of patients applying hospitals with flu symptoms have increased in the second week of January, announced the Head of National Disease Control Centre, Amiran Gamkrelidze today.
Georgia will purchase double amount of anti-flu vaccines for 2019-2020 and this will be 80,000 vaccines instead of the 41,000 which were purchased for 2018-2019, head of the National Disease Control Centre Amiran Gamkrelidze has told Netgazeti.
Ivane Chkhaidze, the medical director of Iashvili children’s hospital on Saturday said the “overwhelming” majority of flu cases have been the so-called Hong Kong H3-N2 virus, which appears to be more severe in children, unlike the current coronavirus variant.
Georgian healthcare authorities have called on the public to ensure they are vaccinated against seasonal flu amid increasing numbers of cases of various virus types across the country.
Ivane Chkhaidze, the Medical Director of the Tbilisi-based Iashvili Children's Hospital, on Friday said the number of flu cases had doubled across the country.