The Government of Georgia published the National Vaccination Strategy of COVID-19. The document reads that the government is considering 4 various scenarios in order to vaccinate 60% of the population late this year.

Scenarios include procedures for purchasing vaccines from various manufacturers and distributing them to 60% of the population (1.7 million citizens). The Ministry of Health estimates that the vaccination campaign will cost between 64 and 158 million GEL. The difference of over 100 million USD is due to the fact that the government does not yet know which drugmakers’ vaccine will be used on a large scale.

The document also considers the projected prices for each vaccine:

1) AstraZeneca - price per dose from $ 3 to $ 7.5;
2) Pfizer / BioNtech - price per dose from $ 18.34 to $ 19.50;
3) Moderna - price per dose from $ 25 to $ 34.50.

Scenario 1: The country receives 200,000 doses of Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, 1,484,400 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine from the COVAX platform, and the country imports additional volumes to cover 60% of the population over the age of 18. The country will import a total of 3,979,327 vaccine doses.

Scenario 2: The country imports 200,000 doses of Moderna vaccine, 1,484,400 doses of AstraZeneca from the COVAX platform, and additional vaccine doses for 60% of the adult population (a total of 3,979,327 vaccine doses).

Scenario 3: The country receives 200,000 doses of any vaccine, stored at 2-80 degrees Celsius, 1,484,400 doses of AstraZeneca from the COVAX platform, and an additional AstraZeneca vaccine from other sources (a total of 3,979,327 vaccine doses).

Scenario 4: The country imports only AstraZeneca vaccine to cover all risk groups in the country and additional population groups (a total of 3,979,327 vaccine doses).

“A total of 3,979,327 doses are needed to cover 60% of population. As of today, Georgia has guaranteed 1,484,400 doses of vaccine from the COVAX platform for 2021. However, financial resources have been estimated at 3,979,327 vaccine doses, assuming the country will import an additional 2,494,927 doses from alternative sources," the document said.

Who will be vaccinated:

• Healthcare workers – target: 71,415, coverage - 60% or 46,420 persons;
• Nursing home beneficiaries and staff – target: 2,600, 60% or 1,560 persons;
•People over 75 – target: 226 800, 60% or 136 080 persons;
• People aged 65-74 – target: 329 183, 60% or 197 510 perons;
• Essential (basic) service providers – target: 180 373, 60% or 108 224 perosns;
• Persons aged 55-64 – target: 478,400, 60% or 287,040 persons;
• 18-54 persons with chronic diseases – target: 89 400, 60% or 53 640 persons;

Other population groups: target: 1 434 567, coverage 60% or 860 740 persons;
In total - 1 691 214 persons.