TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania began a mass inoculation campaign Sunday ahead of the summer tourism season after acquiring 192,000 doses of Chinese coronavirus vaccine Sinovac earlier this week.
Hundreds of individuals age 70 and above gathered at Tirana’s main Skanderbeg Sq. to get a jab in two big tents.
Liri Bizhiti, 76, one of those waiting in line, was pleased to receive the vaccine after a yr of isolation, and on the same day as her husband.
“Thank God it came,” she informed The Associated Press whereas accompanied by her daughter. “We’re so happy.”
Vaccination has proceeded slowly within the Balkan nation since mid-January earlier than the arrival of the Sinovac vaccine, with Albania receiving less than 100,000 Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Sputnik V doses. The nation has inoculated 65,000 medical personnel, individuals age 80 and over, and schoolteachers so far.
Albania, which has inhabitants of 2.8 million, has signed contracts for a total of about 2.5 million vaccine doses from Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sputnik V, and Sinovac. The government is continuing to work on securing new vaccine contracts so the entire population will be fully vaccinated by early 2022.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Edi Rama went to Turkey and brought back the 192,000 Sinovac doses. The remainder of the 500,000 Sinovac doses in Albania is due to receive will come in two months.
Rama also stated Sinovac would construct a factory in Albania to produce different vaccines.
Albania aims to give at least 10,000 shots a day and to complete 500,000 jabs by June, Health Minister Ogerta Manastirliu stated.
“This process won’t stop and our ambitious plan of vaccination aims that in 14 months we complete it (for the entire population) and achieve immunization,” the minister stated.
The government aims to make the nation ready to welcome tourists this summer. Within the years before the virus outbreak, tourism became a significant industry within the nation’s economy.
“I believe that this tourist season will be more relaxed as a result of the attacks against the chain of infections,” Rama informed journalists after touring the vaccination center at the square.
Overseas tourists coming to Albania wouldn’t be required to show proof that they’ve been inoculated with a coronavirus vaccine.
Albania has registered more than 123,000 coronavirus cases and 2,204 confirmed deaths as of Saturday, according to health authorities.
