Amiran Gamkrelidze: Georgia Will Receive Coronavirus Vaccine in Spring

Head of Georgia’s National Centre for Disease Control, Amiran Gamkrelidze, today said that Georgia is expected to receive the coronavirus vaccine either in March or April 2021 via the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (Covax). 

Gamkrelidze added that Georgia has already ordered vaccines for 700,000 persons (1,400,000 doses, as one person must be vaccinated twice), and will pay around 17 million USD. 

Covax aims to accelerate the development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines, and to guarantee fair and equitable access for every country in the world. Covax unites over 170 countries and has plans to purchase several billion vaccines by 2021. 

Georgia is currently negotiating with individual companies to buy coronavirus vaccines directly from them. 

Gamkrelidze added that Georgia is currently experiencing its peak of the coronavirus infection, noting that the duration of the peak depends on a myriad of factors, including the observation of recently imposed restrictions. 

The global pandemic has already caused the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives and disrupted the lives of billions more. 

Georgia today reported 3,216 new cases of coronavirus, with 3,3937 recoveries and 37 deaths.