Georgia Expects to Receive First Batch of Coronavirus Vaccine in February

Georgia is set to receive its first batch of the coronavirus vaccine in February through the COVAX initiative, a global effort for the development, production, and distribution of the vaccine. Health Minister Ekaterine Tikaradze announced this to reporters on December 8, as reported by Armenpress citing TASS.

"We are cooperating with the COVAX platform, which requires our country to submit a vaccination program. We have already presented our vaccination plan to the COVAX platform, as well as to the WHO. We are in intensive negotiations that imply that in February, Georgia will receive the first doses of the vaccine through COVAX," Tikaradze said.

Initially, it was reported that Georgia would receive the vaccine in March. Earlier, Tikaradze's deputy, Tamara Gabunian, had announced that Georgian authorities are discussing the possibility of purchasing vaccines produced by the British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, the American Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, as well as the vaccines made by Moderna from the USA.

On December 16, 2020, an inter-agency commission was established in Georgia for the vaccination of the population against coronavirus. The authorities plan to purchase 1.4 million doses to vaccinate 700,000 people, which constitutes 20 percent of the population. The first vaccine doses will be administered to the elderly and residents of nursing homes, followed by healthcare workers.

The first case of coronavirus in Georgia, which has a population of 3,716,900, was registered on February 26. As of January 8, the country has recorded 236,028 infection cases (6.35 percent of the population), 224,189 people have recovered, and 2,728 patients have died.