TIRANA, December 12 /ATA/ The Parliament of Albania focused today on the amendment of the contract with the “Pfizer” company for the new anti-COVID vaccines.
During her speech in the Assembly, Minister of Health and Social Protection Ogerta Manastirliu said that thanks to this amendment, it has become possible for doses of adapted vaccines to arrive in our country, which include the 9 new variants of COVID-19.
“The amendment of the contract with the Pfizer-BioNTech company guaranteed us a recalculation and provision of 700,000 COVID-19 vaccines, adapted according to 9 variants, which are adapted as bivalent booster doses, as well as the doses of vaccines adapted for children, which have already arrived and started not only with the administration, but are also being applied”.
Speaking about the national vaccination program this season, Manastirliu said that there is a fairly good progress of the flu vaccine for vulnerable groups.
“In accordance with the recommendations of the WHO and other international experts, we have guaranteed and are making possible vaccination against the flu. This vaccination is free for over 230,000 citizens and is a mechanism to strengthen protection against viruses to cope with the winter season. It turns out that so far, 196 thousand citizens have been vaccinated against the seasonal flu”, said Manastirliu.
In Albania, the vaccine coverage against COVID-19 for risk groups, such as health personnel or the elderly in residential centers, is over 90%. While for the age groups over 60 and 70, the vaccine coverage is over 70% and 75%, respectively.
Since the start of the vaccination process, in January 2021, over 4.1 million doses of the vaccine against COVID-19 have arrived in the country and over 3 million and 15 thousand doses of the vaccine have been administered with an administration/absorption ratio of over 70%.
The Assembly approved the amendment with 90 votes pro, 3 abstentions and none against.
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