By Ayya Lmahamad
Over 200,000 people in Azerbaijan have been vaccinated against COVID-19 as of February 23, the Health Ministry’s press service reported today.
Presently, citizens aged 50 and older are receiving the vaccine doze, as part of the staged vaccination process that started on January 18.
China's Sinovac vaccine is being used for the nationwide vaccination that is free and on a voluntary basis.
Medical workers were first to receive the vaccine. The next stage of COVID-19 vaccination for citizens over 65 years old started on February 8, while vaccination of police officers started on February 12. Servicemen of the Azerbaijan Army are also being vaccinated. Vaccination is carried out on a voluntary basis.
The vaccination is in line with the “Strategy of vaccination against COVID-19 in Azerbaijan for 2021-2022”.
The second dose of the vaccine is provided 28 days after the first dose.
Citizens request vaccination by registering online. They are asked to take the online queue on the website randevu.its.gov.az, selecting the vaccination item, date and time. Upon completion of the registration, a message is sent, displaying the date, time and place where the first dose of the vaccine will be received.
It should be noted that Azerbaijan allocated over AZN 1.9 billion ($1.1bn) from its state budget to fight the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Additionally, Azerbaijan will participate in clinical studies of the joint use of two vaccines - Sputnik V and a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca in cooperation with Oxford University.
Azerbaijan confirmed its first COVID-19 case on February 28. The country introduced a special quarantine regime on March 25 and has taken a number of measures to fight COVID-19 in the country. Currently, Azerbaijan’s capital Baku accounts for 52.2 percent of all coronavirus infection cases in the country.
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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad
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