Azerbaijan: 50% of Covid passports will no longer be valid from February 15

Covid passports lose validity in Azerbaijan

Starting from February 15, 2022, only those Covid-passports that indicate the date of inoculation with the third, booster dose of the coronavirus vaccine will be considered valid in Azerbaijan. According to official statistics, only a quarter of the population is vaccinated with the third dose – half of the number of people that have already been vaccinated with two doses.

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The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Azerbaijan has warned the citizens of the country about the introduction of new measures against the spread of the coronavirus epidemic in the country in advance.

Starting from Tuesday, the police will begin checking the presence of Covid-passports, indicating the date of vaccination with the third – a booster dose of the vaccine against Covid-19. The exception will be made for those who received the second dose of the vaccine less than 6 months ago. Also valid are electronic documents that confirm that an individual has recovered from Covid-19 in the last six months.

The booster dose is mandatory for bus and taxi drivers as well. Those who are not vaccinated will be subjected to the administrative punishment.

Not everyone has been vaccinated

Despite the fact that the decision on the mandatory third dose of the vaccine was made on December 30, 2021, not everyone managed to get vaccinated.

Judging by official statistics, 24.5% of the entire population of Azerbaijan received the third booster dose, while there are twice as many people vaccinated with both doses – 47.6%.

In other words, half of those who, before February 14, 2022, were allowed to visit cafes, restaurants, theaters and cinemas, will not be able to do so starting from February 15.

Is Chinese vaccine better?

As the date from which the third dose of the vaccine becomes mandatory approaches, queues for vaccinations are growing.

As a Baku resident told a JAMnews correspondent, on the morning of February 14, she went to the clinic hoping to get the third dose of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, but she was only 185th in line:

“Interestingly, there was no queue for the Pfizer vaccine. I decided that it did not matter and signed up for Pfizer. But to be honest, I was did not understand why people queued for hours to get a Chinese vaccine and more popular Western vaccine was not in demand”.

We asked doctor Mais Gashimov to explain this phenomena:

“The developers of the Pfizer vaccine have repeatedly stated that their drug is ineffective in the fight against the Omicron strain. The company is currently developing a new vaccine specifically against this strain of coronavirus.

Meanwhile, there is no information about the spread of Omicron in China. Although the official reports from this country are hardly trustworthy, people decided that it would be more effective to get vaccinated with the Chinese vaccine amid the spread of Omicron”, the specialist explained.

“Most people suffer from Omicron”

In Azerbaijan, the vast majority of people with sore throats and fever are infected with Omicron, infectious disease doctor Mardan Aliyev said.

According to him, not so long ago, an influenza infection was spreading in the country, but now it is gone:

“This gives reason to believe that the majority suffers from the Omicron”.

Some of the symptoms of Omicron and the common flu are similar. In order to determine the viruse, it is necessary to take a swab for analysis, Aliyev concluded.