"At the moment we have contracts for 85 million doses of these vaccines, which is enough to vaccinate 50 million people. One of these vaccines is a single-dose vaccine - from Johnson,” said Niedzielski, whose country has a population of under 40 million.
“The total volume of already-contracted vaccines is enough for more than the whole population of Poland. Everyone can be safe," Niedzielski told private broadcaster Radio Zet.
He added that of the 85 million doses ordered by Poland, nearly 50 million were from pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Moderna. People receiving shots made by those two companies need two doses, administered several weeks apart.
Over 900,000 Poles vaccinated
A total of 905,457 people have been vaccinated against the coronavirus in Poland so far, including a record 124,714 over the last 24 hours, officials announced on Wednesday.
Poland on Wednesday reported 6,789 new coronavirus infections and 389 more deaths, bringing its total number of cases to 1,489,512 and fatalities to 36,054.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced last month that his government had reserved and bought vaccines produced by six leading international drug makers.
On Monday, the latest shipment of 365,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech arrived at Warsaw's Chopin Airport, according to Michał Kuczmierowski, head of the government's Material Reserves Agency (ARM).
Photo: PAP/Jakub Kaczmarczyk
Earlier this month, a first batch of 27,000 doses of a vaccine produced by US drug maker Moderna was delivered to the country.
In the first quarter of this year, around 3 million people are expected to be vaccinated for COVID-19 throughout the country.
Healthcare workers are the top priority group for inoculation, followed by nursing home residents, the elderly, people with chronic health conditions, teachers, police, and soldiers.
Poland's immunization effort began after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on December 21 recommended conditional approval for a coronavirus vaccine produced by US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech for use across the European Union.
The decision by the EU regulator was subsequently greenlighted by the bloc’s executive, the European Commission.
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.
The European Medicines Agency on January 6 gave the green light to Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine, the second shot it has approved as countries step up inoculation efforts amid fears of more contagious strains of the coronavirus.
(pk)
Source: PAP