The Economist publishes a report, which reveals that Georgia supposedly will not get COVID-19 vaccine until late 2022.
The Economist notes based on the data of January 2021, that vaccination timeline will be stretched longer for the low-income countries comparing to rich ones.
According to the organization, the process of large-scale vaccination in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan will not be completed until the second half of 2022, while in Ukraine, the completion of the vaccination process is expected in 2023.
According to this forecast, the economic recovery of developing countries will be much slower than previously predicted. In this new assessment, The Economist relies on the volume of vaccines contracted by countries, as well as the pace of vaccine production.
The position of the Georgian Government varies. According to the National Vaccination Strategy, the country is expected to cover 60% of the population by the end of 2021.
Amiran Gamkrelidze, head of the NCDC, said on January 23 that Georgia was expecting 450-490 thousand doses of the vaccine from AstraZeneca late in Q1.
It is clear from the COVID-19 National Vaccination Strategy that the Government of Georgia considers the AstraZeneca vaccine to be the main vaccine for conducting the vaccination process in the country.
According to the strategy, Georgia will receive 1,484,400 vaccine doses of AstraZeneca guaranteed under the COVAX platform this year, purchase of additional 294,927 doses of AstraZeneca is also planned as an "optional" form.
However, the strategy states that due to the complexity of the logistics chain, the purchase of more than 200,000 doses of Pfizer and Moderna vaccine is not considered and foremost, AstraZeneca is considered as the main jab for the population.
