Vaccinated individuals in Georgia may be exempt from curfew

In Georgia, people who have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus may receive certain benefits, including exemption from curfew, Amiran Gamkrelidze, director of the National Center for Disease Control, said after a meeting of the coordinating council earlier today.

Gamkrelidze says the goal of this initiative is to provide more incentives for citizens to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

“Up to 4,400 people in our country have been vaccinated twice with the Pfizer vaccine. The Center for Disease Control is going to address the coordinating council next week with an initiative so that these people have appropriate benefits during the period of restrictions,” Gamkrelidze said.

“There are other initiatives, and we are working on some of them that I cannot voice in advance, so that these people and the general public are interested in a quick and complete vaccination.”

People who have been vaccinated twice already enjoy benefits in several countries, he said.

Health Minister Yekaterina Tikaradze also commented on the vaccination process.

“Vaccination is proceeding at the expected pace. The population needs time to understand the safety of the vaccine, since not only Georgian, but also foreign media make rather ambiguous statements about the reliability of the vaccine.

“I am confident that the people of Georgia will soon realize how great the benefits of the vaccine are and will more actively participate in this process,” the minister said.

According to the latest data, 41,801 people have been vaccinated against coronavirus in Georgia.

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There are currently two types of vaccines available in the country – Pfizer and AstraZeneca, as well as the Chinese Sinopharm.

On April 27, registration of persons aged 18 and over for vaccination with Sinopharm began in Georgia. More than 6,700 people have already been registered, according to the National Center for Disease Control.

The Sinopharm Chinese vaccine is not yet approved by the World Health Organization, but has been approved by the Hungarian regulator.

In early April, 100,000 doses of Sinopharm were delivered to Georgia, provided that the vaccine will be licensed by the end of April and only after that vaccination will be launched.

Nevertheless, the Georgian government decided to include an unauthorized vaccine in the process. The reason for this is the restriction on vaccination with AstraZeneca among the population under the age of 55, said Deputy Minister of Health Tamar Gabunia.

Coronavirus cases have increased in Georgia. Over the past 24 hours, 1,551 new cases of COVID-19 have been identified in the country, 17 people have died.