Azernews.Az

By Ayya Lmahamad

The head of Azerbaijan’s Management Union of Medical Territorial Units department for control and prevention of diseases has said that the situation with COVID-19 in Azerbaijan is currently under control, Trend reported on November 23.

Yagut Garayeva underlined the need to be careful given the processes in neighboring countries.

“Winter is coming and citizens will spend more time indoors. Therefore, the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine can be considered as the prophylactic measure against this disease,” she said.

Moreover, the World Health Organization office in Azerbaijan head Hande Harmanci said that it is early to talk about the possibility of administering the fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

She stated that the reason is that the COVID-19 vaccines are still not available in some poor countries.

Noting that the most effective method of combating COVID-19 in the world is vaccination, Harmanci recalled that Azerbaijan was one of the first countries in the world to start the vaccination process.

She added that the number of people who received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in Azerbaijan exceeds 40 percent of the country's total population.

“However, the important thing here is not how many people have been vaccinated, it is important for people older than 60, those suffering from chronic diseases, and health workers to be vaccinated,” she said.

She emphasized that the full vaccination with two doses is mandatory.

Harmanci added that antibiotics do not kill viruses.

“It is possible to protect from COVID-19 by vaccination and hygiene. Unfortunately, more than 75 percent of those infected with COVID-19 in the world use antibiotics for treatment. This is the wrong approach,” she said.

“Antibiotics may not work when it is necessary as a result of the use of antibiotics that do not kill COVID-19 without a doctor's prescription. Therefore, people must not use antibiotics without a doctor's prescription,” she added.

The country confirmed its first COVID-19 case on February 28, 2020. The country introduced a special quarantine regime on March 25 and took a number of measures to fight COVID-19 in the country.

The nationwide vaccination is free and on a voluntary basis and is in line with the “Strategy of vaccination against COVID-19 in Azerbaijan for 2021-2022”.

The country started vaccinating citizens using China’s Sinovac on January 18, Vaxzevria vaccine produced by AstraZeneca on May 3, Russia’s Sputnik V on May 18 and U.S-produced Pfizer on June 7. The country started offering COVID-19 vaccination to citizens aged over 18 from May 10.

At the same time, as of August 9, Azerbaijan started issuing vaccination exemption certificates for citizens with contraindications to coronavirus vaccines approved for use in the country.

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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad

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