President Zourabichvili Talks About the Importance of Vaccination, Calls for COVID Passes
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Friday, November 5
The President of Georgia, Salome Zourabichvili, spoke at a special briefing at the Orbeliani Palace about overcoming the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. She addressed the authorities to take urgent and strict measures.
President focused on several important steps that she believes must be taken. Among them are mandatory vaccination for risk groups, adoption of Covid Passes for entering public places, and even paid treatment for those who did not receive the vaccine.
Zourabichvili also addressed the Patriarchate of Georgia and called on them to give a clear example to people about vaccination. She also noted that she is against any type of additional restrictions of economic activity.
The president called the consequences of the pandemic a catastrophic situation for which, in her estimation, everyone is responsible.
Paata Imnadze, Deputy Director of the National Center for Disease Control, says that if vaccination of the population continues at this rate, the coronavirus will never go away.
“We will never get rid of this virus. A big and bad forecast could be that many countries will get away with it, but we won't. If we continue to move at this pace, Covid will always be around,” said Imnadze.
Yesterday, it was announced that the government of Poland will give Georgia 468,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, Pfizer. It was reported by the Ministry of Health, saying that the first part of the donation has already entered Georgia.
Yesterday, the Deputy Minister of Health, Tamar Gabunia, also talked about the importance of vaccination in the country. She said that the support of the Georgian church could be a very important factor for vaccination in the country.
“Georgia has an experience of having a very serious breakthrough with the support of the Church. For example, in the TB management program, the Georgian church stood by those who needed help and supported them to overcome this difficult path,” said Gabunia.
Against the background of the deteriorating epidemiological situation in Georgia, the rate of vaccination has sharply decreased.
The daily vaccination rate in October was only twice as high as 9,000, and since the beginning of November, it has not even reached 4,000, while the Ministry of Health and the National Center for Disease Control considered it necessary to get at least 30,000 vaccinations a day.
Vaccination in Georgia started on March 15, 2021. Only 33.1% of the adult population is fully vaccinated at this time.
In the first phase, to achieve the goal of immunization, the National Center for Disease Control considered it necessary to vaccinate at least 60% of the adult population by the end of the year.
However, later the director of the center, Amiran Gamkrelidze, stated several times that due to the spread of the more complex and contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus, at least 80% vaccination was needed to stop the epidemic.
