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UPDATE: Poland steps up COVID-19 inoculation campaign

30.03.2021 16:02
Poland on Tuesday announced an accelerated inoculation campaign amid an expected increase in supplies of COVID-19 vaccines.
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PM Mateusz Morawiecki seen on a screen during a remote press conference on Tuesday.
PM Mateusz Morawiecki seen on a screen during a remote press conference on Tuesday. Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters that his government aimed to vaccinate all Poles willing to receive shots by the end of August.

He added that 20 million vaccinations were planned by the end of the second quarter in the country of around 38 million.

Shots in pharmacies, drive-thru points

Michał Dworczyk, the official spearheading Poland’s inoculation drive, said vaccination points would be opened in pharmacies, and, in the second quarter, in workplaces with at least 500 employees willing to receive shots.

Dworczyk, who is the Polish prime minister’s chief of staff, hailed the changes as "revolutionary," adding that the country would also launch drive-thru vaccination points.


Photo: PAP/Łukasz Gągulski Photo: PAP/Łukasz Gągulski

Older people have had priority in access to shots in Poland so far. That strategy will change as more vaccines arrive in the country, and from May the government plans to allow everyone regardless of their age to sign up for shots.

Boosted deliveries

Up to 7 million vaccine doses from several producers are expected to reach Poland next month, roughly as many as during the first three months of the year, officials have said.

A fresh supply of around 507,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine arrived in Poland on Monday, public health officials announced.

Later this week, Poland expects to receive about 660,000 doses of a coronavirus vaccine developed by British drug maker AstraZeneca and its partner Oxford University, Michał Kuczmierowski, head of the Government Strategic Reserves Agency, told the media.

Nearly 6 million COVID-19 vaccine shots have been administered in Poland so far, including 75,854 over the last 24 hours, officials announced on Tuesday.

Poland on Tuesday reported 20,870 new coronavirus infections and 461 more deaths, bringing its total number of cases during the pandemic to 2,288,826 and fatalities to 52,392.

(pk/gs)

Source: PAP

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