100,000 doses of Sinovac arrive in Georgia
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Friday, April 30
Deputy Health Minister of Georgia Tamar Gabunia announced yesterday that the country was awaiting 100,000 doses of Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccine. This is the Chinese government’s donation to Georgia, which the country received yesterday, April 29. According to her, the country will start using Sinovac once it gets the go-ahead from World Health Organisation (WHO).
Gabinia stated that the World Health Organisation is planning to discuss the authorization of the Sinovac vaccine at the beginning of May. “We will wait for this authorization, however, if the decision does not come soon, we will act according to the epidemiological situation in the country,” added Gabunia.
According to Gabuania, Sinovac is being used by several countries around the world and the results are very promising. “In terms of effectiveness, the results are very good, and what's important, it significantly lowers the numbers of death and severe conditions,” noted Tamar Gabunia.
As of today, Georgia is vaccinating the Georgian population with two vaccines - Pfizer and AstraZeneca. Recently, registration was opened for Sinopharm for anyone above 18. The Georgian population will start receiving the Sinopharm vaccine starting on May 4. As of yesterday, the country has administered a total of 43,568 Covid-19 vaccines. 5,218 people have already received both doses of the vaccine.
Georgia started vaccination on March 15. At first, only medical personnel and people over 65 had the chance to receive the vaccine. Starting from April 5, Covid-19 vaccines became available for everyone above 55.
As the daily reported cases in the country continue to increase, the health experts are talking about the possible third wave of the Covid-19, which is once again showing the importance of vaccination.
Georgian Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze previously addressed the Parliament of Georgia in the framework of the Minister Hour and discussed the vaccination process among other issues.
As the minister noted, the country is working hard to administer as many vaccines as possible. She also said that Georgia is waiting for additional doses of the Covid-19 vaccines. Additional doses of AstraZeneca are expected to arrive in Georgia today, on March 30.
Tikaradze also noted that the talks are ongoing about additional Pfizer doses, and it is expected for the country to receive as much as one million doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
