The Albanian Telegraphic Agency closely followed this process that has been widely endorsed and recognized by the citizens as the only weapon to fight the virus in addition to strict adherence to restrictive measures in place.

Ariela Malaj, who is in charge of Tirana’s Regional Primary Health Care provides an overview of this process.

The process is well on target vaccinating about 160 people a day and based on rough estimates we will go to 35,000 people vaccinated in the makeshift center set up on Scanderbeg square alone. This process started with age group +80 to go down to +70 and +65 including +60 when persons are referred by the family doctor as cases of underlying health conditions. There are also patients diagnosed with diseases such as cancer, who have been referred by their doctors and have been vaccinated at our center. So far no severe side effects have been reported during the vaccination except for emotional problems that have been handled promptly. Neither the family doctors have reported any complications to us. The emergency service is on standby to respond, ” Malaj told ATA.

Even the citizens who had received the jab or those were waiting in line told ATA that they had been looking forward to this day for more than a year.

“We have not gotten over the bitter experience of the past year and I hope that now we will return to normalcy. I have not met my children for some time now due to travel restrictions. The vaccination process is a positive thing for the population, ” a 62-year-old woman told ATA.

Another citizen says that “now I feel much safer after getting the shot. No more fear or frustrations.”

Since the launch of “Albania smiles” vaccination rollout, 304,488 persons have received the jab.
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