The Government of Georgia is in no hurry to share the experience of other countries and introduce mandatory vaccination of citizens, despite the low vaccination rate and the growing number of infection cases. However, the government does not deny that a similar model of green passport is already submitted to the Coordinating Council.
The Executive Director of the Georgian Business Association also calls on the government to share the experience of other countries. According to Levan Vepkhvadze, the French model worked successfully, during which the state requested mandatory vaccinations for employees in public agencies and a number of professions, and in addition to that, the Italian model should also be considered, when the restrictions applied equally to both the public and private sectors.
"Italian model is very strict, but it would be good if we think about the French model, when the state itself imposes some restrictions on access to public space, including restaurants, and so on. On the other hand, there is a special emphasis on the public sector, as the total number of employees in the public sector is quite large. If there will be more activity, I am sure the business will respond similarly to this activity.
It is difficult to talk about mandatory vaccination when only 30% of the target category is vaccinated. Mandatory vaccination started in Italy when only 30% of citizens were left unvaccinated. The difference is quite large. We have to go slowly and not with a total obligation,” said Levan Vepkhvadze.
As of October 12, 1 882 118 vaccines were administrated in Georgia, including 1 022 488 citizens or 35.3% took 1 dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 879 630 citizens or 30.8% of the adult population was fully vaccinated.
