668 people vaccinated against COVID-19 in Georgia today

The National Center for Disease Control has announced that 668 people in Georgia have already received the newly delivered AstraZeneca vaccine in Georgia, and 4, 202 medical workers have already registered to receive a vaccine. On March 15, when the nationwide vaccination programme was launched in the country, several health officials and doctors were jabbed during the livestream aired on TV.

The first one to register to receive the dose of anti-coronavirus vaccine was 73-year old Tamar Giorgadze, while the first one to receive the shot was the deputy head of the National Center for Disease Control, Paata Imnadze. He later reported that he felt great after receiving the vaccine shot, and called for more people to follow his example. Imnadze added that the receival of the AstraZeneca vaccines in Georgia is the beginning of an end of the pandemic in Georgia, all while reinstating that the end of pandemic will not be possible without the nation-wide vaccination, thus urging everyone, and especially medical workers, to register for a vaccination.

On March 13, Georgia received 43,200 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine with the help of UNICEF. Next week, Georgia is expecting to receive 29,250 doses of US-Germany produced Pfizer vaccine. Head of the National Center for Disease Control, Amiran Gamkrelidze stated earlier that if at least 1,6 million people get vaccinated by the end of this year, Georgia will be able to go back to a normal way of living.

The Ministry of Health of Georgia announced earlier that it is beginning the new information campaign called “Get vaccinated, vaccine saves lives!”, which is aimed at urging more people to get a vaccine shot in Georgia. Ministry’s statement on its official Facebook page explains that vaccine reduces the risk of infection and death by the COVID-19 virus:

“Vaccine is the end of the pandemic”, the statement reads.

The Ministry does, however, note that even if the person receives the two shots of the vaccine, they will still be obliged to wear a mask, as well as obey the social distancing regulations.

“Getting vaccinated is one’s right and everyone’s responsibility. Get vaccinated and protect your life and health. The vaccine protects us. Together we can stop the COVID-`19 pandemic”, the Ministry states.

As of the last 24 hours, 537 new cases of COVID-19 virus were identified in Georgia, as well as 128 recoveries and 8 deaths. A total of 29,652 tests have been conducted across the country, 7,449 of which were PCR tests and 22,203 were rapid tests. Since February 26, 2020, the country has confirmed 275,685 coronavirus.