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Over 410,000 Poles vaccinated for COVID-19: gov't data

15.01.2021 11:50
A total of 410,480 people have been vaccinated against the coronavirus in Poland so far, new government data showed on Friday.
A health worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for administering to a patient.
A health worker prepares a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for administering to a patient.Photo: PAP/EPA/CRISTOBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH

Meanwhile, a total of 1,080,630 vaccine doses have been delivered to the country since the end of December, officials announced.

The Polish Prime Minister's Office said in a tweet that 91 adverse reactions had been reported among those who received the shots by Friday.

A total of 1,084 doses have been wasted in the rollout, according to the tweet.

Poland on Friday confirmed 7,795 new coronavirus infections and 386 more deaths, bringing its total number of cases to 1,422,320 and fatalities to 32,844.

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

On Monday, a shipment of 360,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech arrived at Warsaw's Chopin Airport, according to Michał Kuczmierowski, head of Poland's Material Reserves Agency (ARM).

A day later, a first batch of 27,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine was delivered to the country.

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.

In the first quarter of this year, a total of 2.94 million people are expected to be vaccinated for COVID-19 throughout the country.

Frontline healthcare workers are first in line to be inoculated, followed by nursing home residents, people over 70, police, soldiers and teachers.

Citizens over 80 can sign up for COVID-19 shots from Friday. On January 22, registration will open to those in the 70+ age group. Vaccinations for this group are due to begin on January 25.

Poland plans to spend PLN 3 billion (EUR 675 million, USD 820 million) on over 60 million doses of coronavirus vaccines under a national inoculation plan adopted by the government.

Almost 6,000 vaccination sites will be available to citizens as the country rolls out its COVID-19 immunization campaign.

(gs/pk)

Source: IAR