Michał Dworczyk, who is spearheading the government’s inoculation drive, said that all Poles who have received the first dose of a vaccine made by the US pharmaceutical firm would also receive a second.
Two doses several weeks apart are needed by people receiving shots.
Earlier on Friday, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health said Pfizer would temporarily reduce its deliveries to Europe as it upgrades its production capacity.
Dworczyk, who is the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, said deliveries from Pfizer "are in the future to be increased, and that’s increased compared to what the company planned earlier."
He told reporters that Poland was for now not altering its national inoculation programme, but acknowledged the pace at which vaccinations were being carried out could be affected.
He added that the government did not yet have precise information from Pfizer about the extent to which it would scale back deliveries in the coming weeks.
A health worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for administering to a patient. Photo: PAP/EPA/CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH
Poland on Friday reported 7,795 new coronavirus infections and 386 more deaths, bringing its total number of cases to 1,422,320 and fatalities to 32,844.
Frontline healthcare workers were the first to receive shots in Poland. Next in line are the 80+ age group, who from midnight have been able to book a specific time and place to receive a jab. Seniors aged over 70 will be able to do so as of January 22.
Meanwhile, as of Friday, younger Polish adults can put their names on a waiting list for a COVID-19 vaccination, though they will have to wait to learn when they will receive a shot.
Poles urged to get shots
At the end of last month, the government launched a media campaign called Szczepimy Się (Let's Get Vaccinated) to encourage Poles to get COVID-19 shots.
The immunization effort began after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on December 21 recommended conditional approval for a coronavirus vaccine produced by 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, according to European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen.
(pk)
Source: PAP