Amiran Gamkrelidze: This fall will be the first season when flu and coronavirus will coexist

According to Amiran Gamkrelidze, Head of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health, this fall will be the first season when flu and coronavirus will coexist.

As Amiran Gamkrelidze said, the above is very dangerous, as seasonal flu and coronavirus have the potential to aggravate each other.

"As you know, the flu season usually starts in autumn. Usually, it starts from the 40th week in Europe, but in Georgia it more often starts in the last week of October, or in November. The clinical picture of influenza and Covid are almost identical. The diagnosis can mainly be made in a laboratory. Therefore, the whole world is very attentive to this. This will be the first season when flu and coronavirus will coexist. This may very dangerous, because they have the potential to aggravate each other. Therefore, we will start vaccinating risk groups for flu in mid-October and this must be done necessarily. The state has purchased 135,000 doses for the risk groups. The private sector also has some orders, so the flu vaccine will be further expanded this year. Last year, the state vaccinated 100,000 people, while this year we plan to vaccinate 135,000 people and we are trying to purchase additional doses," Gamkrelidze said.