2021-02-01 17:45 update: 2021-02-03, 11:30
Fot. PAP/Leszek Szymańsk
Poland has given out 1.176 million Covid-19 vaccines so far, including 976,000 first-dose shots, the government vaccination commissioner said on Monday.
Over 200,000 Poles have gone through the full vaccination procedure, having received two doses, Michal Dworczyk said at a press conference as he summed up the first month of the national vaccination programme.
Despite earlier declarations from vaccine producers, Poland will receive only 6 million doses of coronavirus vaccines by the end of March, not 9 million, according to Dworczyk.
Vaccine producers Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca have recently announced delivery cuts to European countries.
"Of course, this might change," Dworczyk said. "Our caution and restraint in presenting concrete information on vaccinations in the coming quarters are due to limited predictability of vaccine deliveries to Poland."
Dworczyk expressed regret that in some cases vaccinations in the so-called 'zero group,' comprising mainly medical personnel, had had to be delayed or suspended.
However, some 94 percent of all doctors and over 80 percent of residents of old people's homes that wanted to be vaccinated have received the jabs, according to the commissioner.
Poland operates over 6,100 vaccination points, Dworczyk also reported.
The government has contracted close to 100 million vaccine doses, which ensures 58 million full vaccinations for a 38-million nation, Adam Niedzielski, the health minister, said at the conference, explaining that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires only one shot.
Giving his rationale to the prolongation of coronavirus restrictions, Niedzielski said: "We mustn't allow the Covid-19 vaccination programme to be conducted while the pandemic is raging." (PAP)
