Michał Dworczyk, who is spearheading the government’s inoculation drive, said the country would be able to vaccinate 130,000 medical staff this week instead of 330,000, as originally planned.
But he added that a second dose of the vaccine was guaranteed for everyone who has already received a first shot. Two doses several weeks apart are needed by people being inoculated.
Shots for people over 70 according to plan
Dworczyk, who is the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said that vaccinations of people aged over 70 would start on January 25, according to plan.
He added that 176,000 Pfizer vaccines were delivered to Poland on Monday, instead of the 360,000 originally expected.
Pfizer said on Friday it would temporarily reduce its vaccine deliveries to Europe while it upgrades its production capacity.
Healthcare workers are the top priority group in Poland for inoculation, followed by nursing home residents, people over 70, police, soldiers and teachers.
Citizens over 80 have been able to sign up for COVID-19 shots since Friday. On January 22, registration will open to those in the 70+ age group.
Poland on Monday began vaccinating elderly people living in care homes. Around 70,000 nursing home residents are expected to be inoculated in the effort, which is due to run until the end of the week.
Poland on Monday reported 3,271 new coronavirus infections and 52 more deaths, bringing its total number of cases to 1,438,914 and fatalities to 33,407.
The European Union, of which Poland is part, has struck deals to secure vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, Moderna, CureVac, Sanofi-GSK, and Johnson & Johnson.
(pk/gs)
Source: IAR