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Nearly 1.8 million COVID-19 shots administered in Poland: gov't data

10.02.2021 10:50
A total of 1,773,715 COVID-19 vaccine shots have been administered in Poland so far, including 84,033 over the last 24 hours, officials announced on Wednesday.
Poland is set to begin vaccinating teachers later this week as it moves to the next stage of its COVID-19 inoculation campaign.
Poland is set to begin vaccinating teachers later this week as it moves to the next stage of its COVID-19 inoculation campaign.Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański

Public health authorities said that 1,549 adverse reactions had been reported among those who received the vaccines by Wednesday morning.

Meanwhile, a total of 3,549 doses have been wasted in the rollout, according to the Polish health ministry.

As of Wednesday, Poland had injected almost 1.3 million first doses, while more than 480,000 people have received a second shot, health ministry data showed.

Poland on Wednesday reported 6,930 new coronavirus infections and 360 more deaths, bringing its total number of cases during the pandemic to 1,563,645 and fatalities to 39,721.

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

The Polish prime minister's top aide, Michał Dworczyk, said last week that his country had ordered almost 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines in total, enough to inoculate 58 million people, more than its population of around 38 million.

Michał Dworczyk, the man in charge of Poland's COVID-19 vaccination campaign, seen on a screen during a virtual media briefing. Michał Dworczyk, the man in charge of Poland's COVID-19 vaccination campaign, seen on a screen during a virtual media briefing. Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak

Dworczyk said in a tweet on Sunday that, in terms of coronavirus vaccine doses given per 100 people, Poland had "outdistanced" many other European countries, including Germany and France, and "far exceeded the EU average."

"We would like to thank all the people and institutions involved in the national vaccination programme," he tweeted.

The European Union, of which Poland is part, has struck deals to secure vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZenecaModernaCureVacSanofi-GSK, and Johnson & Johnson.

On Monday, a fresh shipment of around 320,000 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by US pharmaceutical firm Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech arrived at Warsaw's Chopin Airport, Michał Kuczmierowski, head of Poland's Material Reserves Agency (ARM), told the media.

Photo: Photo: PAP/Łukasz Gągulski

Two days earlier, Poland received its first delivery of 120,000 doses of a vaccine offered by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, officials said.

Europe's medicines regulator on January 29 approved the AstraZeneca/Oxford University vaccine for people over the age of 18, the third coronavirus shot to be cleared for use in the European Union.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said there were not yet enough results for people over the age of 55 to determine how well the vaccine would work for this group.

Photo: Photo: EPA/JOE GIDDENS

Meanwhile, at the end of last month, a delayed second shipment of 42,000 doses of a vaccine produced by US drug maker Moderna was delivered to the country, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.

Photo: Photo: PAP/Jakub Kaczmarczyk

At the end of December, 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, around 3 million people are expected to be vaccinated for COVID-19 throughout the country.

Healthcare workers are the top priority group for inoculation, followed by nursing home residents, the elderly, people with chronic health conditions, teachers, police, and soldiers.

The first vaccines for the coronavirus were administered in Poland on Sunday, Dec. 27, 2020, as part of a coordinated rollout across the European Union. The first vaccines for the coronavirus were administered in Poland on Dec. 27, as part of a coordinated rollout across the European Union. Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański

Poland last month began administering COVID-19 vaccines to citizens over 70.

People in the 80+ age group have been able to sign up for COVID-19 shots since January 15.

Seniors can send a text message to sign up for a shot. They can also go online to register or call a 989 vaccination hotline to schedule an appointment. Direct reservations at vaccination sites are possible, but officials have advised people against visiting in person to limit the risk of exposure.   

Meanwhile, younger Polish adults can put their names on a waiting list for a vaccine, but for now there is no timeline on when they will be able to receive a shot.

Poland plans to begin vaccinating teachers this week. By Tuesday, more than 215,000 teachers had signed up for the shots, according to officials.

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

Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said on Tuesday that around 6.7 million coronavirus vaccine doses were expected to reach Poland by the end of March, including 4.8 million from Pfizer/BioNTech, 1.15 million from AstraZeneca, and 744,000 from Moderna.

(gs/pk)

Source: IAR, gov.pl