Azerbaijan to issue COVID-19 passports to vaccinated citizens
By Ayya Lmahamad
Azerbaijan will issue COVID-19 passports to its citizens who have been vaccinated against coronavirus, the Board Chairman of the Association for the Management of Medical Territorial Units Ramin Bayramli has told local media
Azerbaijan will start nationwide free vaccination in early 2021. The vaccination will be voluntary and carried out at the expense of the state.
Bayramli said that after the start of the vaccination in 2021, a special electronic system based on E-tabib platform will start functioning in the country.
He underlined that the vaccination itself will be done in two stages. After the first vaccination, citizens will be warned through an electronic system about the need to repeat the procedure.
Bayramli emphasized that Azerbaijan has already developed COVID-19 passport with a barcode for each person.
“This passport will be issued to those citizens who have been vaccinated, in case if any of the foreign countries request such a document.”
Azerbaijan has revealed the list of vaccines against COVID-19 that may be imported to the country. The list includes a joint US-Germany produced vaccine Pfizer, the Russian Sputnik V, the US Oxford University Moderna, jointly developed by Swedish and British scientists AstraZeneca, and Chinese Sinovac vaccines.
Initially, it is planned to vaccinate healthcare workers and people over the age of 65, and in the first stage, vaccination will be free of charge.
The coronavirus vaccines to be purchased and imported into the country will be 100 percent safety compliant.
Azerbaijan has taken a number of measures to fight COVID-19 in the country.
Since the start of pandemic, the country increased the number of laborites by eight times and built 10 new modern hospitals, including modular ones. In addition, the government invited doctors from five countries – Italy, China, Cuba, Russia and Turkey. In order to combat the pandemic and to provide financial support to citizens affected by the economic consequences of COVID-19 around $2.5 billion was allocated from the state budget. Financial support measures have covered about 5 million citizens of Azerbaijan, which is half of the country’s population.
Azerbaijan confirmed its first COVID-19 case on February 28 and introduced a special quarantine regime on March 25.
As of December 23, Azerbaijan, the nation of 10 million, has registered 205,877 COVID-19 cases and 2,294 coronavirus-related deaths. Some 147,199 patients have recovered.
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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad
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