NCDC Head Amiran Gamkhrelidze: I Stand by the Protestors
“No-one enjoys the restrictions. I am in solidarity with the protestors. I understand them”- Amiran Gamkhrelidze
The General Director of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health, Amiran Gamkhrelidze, talked about the vaccines and the people that are prioritized to get vaccinated first. He expressed his solidarity toward the protestors against the restrictions created amid the pandemic and discussed the indicators that determine the existence of the curfew of a talk show “Public Politics” on TV Pirveli.
“Our prioritization is based on the recommendations of the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and almost all developed European countries. Almost everywhere, the first people to get vaccinated are medical workers, and then, in the majority of countries, the rest of the population is vaccinated according to their age groups. It is written out in the plan that the so-called “special groups”, such as teachers, police, and people at the front lines will definitely get vaccinated. Teachers over the age 65 are more of a priority than younger ones. The main purpose of the vaccine is not only to stop the spread of the virus, but also to protect the most vulnerable, which includes the elderly population, so that they are protected from fatal complications.
“France is a stronger country than ours. At what time does the curfew start there? At six p.m. No one enjoys the restrictions. I am in solidarity with the protestors. I understand them. If we are able to get the amount of people wearing masks to 95%, by May we will have 20-30 daily cases of infection, and not the 400-500 cases that we have today. [Cancelling of the curfew] is not based on one, but multiple indicators: the decrease in the number of positive cases, the amount of infected people in rehab, the amount of people on breathing machines, and many more that are summed up, and the decision gets made according to those results” Gamkhrelidze said.
By Barbare Mikelidze
Image source: Ministry of Education