Tamar Gabunia: Georgia will receive 29,250 doses of Pfizer vaccine by mid-February - vaccination will be carried out in large clinics in Kutaisi, Batumi and Tbilisi

We have received final confirmation that the country will receive 29,250 doses of Pfizer vaccine by mid-February, - Deputy Health Minister Tamar Gabunia told reporters.

According to her, the Ministry of Health sent a request to the Covax Platform on January 18 to receive the vaccine against coronavirus, as Georgia was fully ready to receive the Pfizer vaccine in the near future. In addition, as Tamar Gabunia explained, Georgia needs to receive more than 300,000 doses of Astrazeneca vaccine in the first and second quarters in order to continue to cover priority groups.

"The Ministry of Health today received official confirmation that the first doses of Pfizer vaccines will arrive in the country from mid-February to the end of February - 29,250 doses, which will be intended for healthcare personnel. The healthcare personnel is the priority group to be vaccinated first. Vaccination will then continue for the rest of the priority groups. These are the beneficiaries living in long-term facilities and their caregivers. Then there are the age groups that are most at risk - the population over 75, people aged 65 to 75 with chronic disease. Also, strategic service providers such as the army, police, teachers. This will be followed by other populations. A total of 60% is planned to be covered by the end of 2021. A great achievement is that the country will receive the first doses sooner than it was managed in many other countries. We will start the vaccination process very soon and then we expect that additional doses of known vaccines will also be mobilized. That is, a certain amount of Astrazeneca will be added to the first Pfizer vaccine. There is also an expectation that additional vaccines, which have successful results, will be gradually added to the opportunity offered by vaccination programs today", - said Tamar Gabunia.