Amiran Gamkrelidze: When any coronavirus vaccine is approved, Georgia will receive the dose enough for vaccinating 700 000 people

According to Amiran Gamkrelidze, head of the National Center for Disease Control, Georgia has ordered the required dose of 700,000 people for the coronavirus vaccine, which will primarily vaccinate high-risk groups.

Asked by InterPressNews which coronavirus vaccine will be introduced in Georgia, Gamkrelidze said that it depends on the decision of the Global Vaccine Alliance. According to him, Georgia has already transferred USD 4 million to the Global Alliance account.

"Different states have ordered approximately 8 billion doses of the coronavirus vaccine. The type of vaccine that we will receive will be decided by the so-called Covax - a platform developed by the Global Vaccine Alliance, with which we have been working for two decades. We do not know yet which vaccine this platform will purchase for our type of countries and Georgia. Georgia has already transferred $ 4 million to the Covax platform and we have ordered a dose of the vaccine enough for 700,000 people, for a total of up to USD 17 million. Georgia has made the first contribution and when any of the vaccines are approved, Georgia will receive this vaccine from leading international organizations and up to 700,000 people will be vaccinated. First of all, they will be a high-risk group, which has already been defined", - said Amiran Gamkrelidze.

As Gamkrelidze noted, the development of the coronavirus vaccine and its use in practice is considered one of the biggest hopes of defeating the pandemic, but, according to him, "there are exaggerated hopes" that the Covid vaccine will become available in a few months.