Almost 300,000 doses of novel coronavirus vaccines will be delivered to Moldova in February within the framework of the global vaccine-sharing mechanism COVAX, the country’s health ministry said on Saturday, TASS writes.
“First batches of COVID-19 vaccines will arrive to the Republic of Moldova in mid-February, namely 24,570 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and 264,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine. On January 30, the Health Ministry received the confirmation of the vaccine delivery via the COVAX platform,” the ministry’s press service said in a statement.
According to the ministry, Moldova will receive a batch of medicines sufficient to vaccinate 20% of its population free of charge. It can purchase the rest via COVAX with a discount.
The number of coronavirus cases in Moldova has already exceeded 159,500, which is 4.4% of the country’s population. About 149,562 patients have recovered and 3,434 died.
An emergency situation in the public health sector in place from November 30 has been extended to February 15, with mass gatherings being prohibited and people being obliged to wear face masks in public places. Some of public sector employees have been switched to work from home. An entry ban for foreigners stays in place.
A national vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus infection is expected to kick off in February. In line with the schedule, doctors will be vaccinated first. During the second stage, vaccine will be administered to elderly citizens, while the rest of the population will be inoculated during the third stage.
