Gabunia: Vaccination may begin by the end of March with AstraZeneca vaccine

Despite the repeated promises of health officials, Georgia did not receive the first doses of vaccine via the Covax platform in February. The platform released a statement in which it explained that only the countries that were able to meet all the requirements managed to receive the first doses of vaccine last month:

“The national regulator of all participating countries must authorize the vaccine to be imported; Also, all participants must sign a compensation contract with the vaccine manufacturers in order to be able to receive doses from the Covax platform”, reads the statement.

In response to the Covax statement, Deputy Health Minister of Georgia Tamar Gabunia explained that the delay in receiving vaccines was caused by the additional requirements put forward by the Covax platform, and which Georgia did not manage to meet. She clarified that the additional requirements are not related to the technical capacity of Georgia to store and initiate vaccines, but rather the financial reinsurance of the country’s liability, put forward by the vaccine manufacturer, Pfizer:

“We have already made an inquiry to the Covax platform, and the answer we received states that the reason for the delay is related to Pfizer’s additional requirements”, said Gabunia.

In her statement, the Deputy Health Minister also reminded that Georgia is currently negotiating the purchase of AstraZeneca vaccines, which may be delivered to the country by the end of this month, and, in the meantime, the Pfizer vaccine may “also appear in the country.”

Earlier last month, it was announced that the first stage of the anti-coronavirus vaccination program was expected to begin in mid-February. The first batch of the Pfizer vaccine, which was supposed to be acquired via the Covax platform, was to be administered to health workers. The Georgian government has already announced that it plans to vaccinate approximately 3.7 million people or 60% of the Georgian population by the end of 2021.

As of the last 24 hours, 160 new cases of COVID-19 were detected in Georgia, 409 patients recovered, and 10 died. A total of 270, 918 cases have been detected in Georgia since February 2020; 265,523 have recovered and 3,520 have died of the virus.