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Poland expects 300,000 Johnson&Johnson vaccines in April

27.03.2021 21:30
Poland expects a delivery of around 300,000 Johnson&Johnson Covid-19 vaccines in the second half of April, the country’s health minister Adam Niedzielski has said.
Polish health minister Adam Niedzielski speaks at a virtual press conference dedicated to the coronavirus situation in Poland, Warsaw, March 27.
Polish health minister Adam Niedzielski speaks at a virtual press conference dedicated to the coronavirus situation in Poland, Warsaw, March 27.Photo: PAP/Wojciech Olkuśnik

Speaking to a press conference on Saturday, the official noted, however, that the final figures will depend on the producer, the Polish News Agency PAP reported.

Aside from discussing the country's inoculation effort, minister Niedzielski addressed the issue of a deteriorating coronavirus situation in Poland.

He said that the weekly average of new Covid cases has already reached the levels of the second wave, while the current COVID-19 hospitalization rate is substantially higher compared to that of last autumn.

As many as 795 patients suffering from Covid-19 have been admitted to hospitals in Poland since Friday, he said.

Also, the official told reporters that a highly-contagious variant of COVID-19 first identified in Britain now accounts for 80% of the reported cases in Poland.

Poland's vaccination drive

Earlier this week, the health minister said that Poland had ordered 6 million doses of the  single-shot Johnson&Johnson coronavirus vaccine.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced in December that his government had secured vaccines for the Polish population from six leading international drug makers.

So far, the European Union has approved Covid-19 vaccines produced by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and recently by Johnson&Johnson.

Poland hopes to vaccinate 60 to 70 percent of its population against the coronavirus by the autumn, according to Adam Niedzielski.

(ał)

Source: PAP