Outgoing government sets goal to start vaccinating non-risk groups by May
A goal has been set by the outgoing government to start vaccinating Estonian residents from non-risk groups against coronavirus by May, Minister of Social Affairs Tanel Kiik (Center) said.
"We are moving towards a target of at least 100,000 people being vaccinated in the first quarter. I am optimistic that this number will be higher and by the end of April at the latest, all members of at-risk groups will have had the opportunity to get vaccinated themselves," Kiik said at a government press conference on Thursday.
"During the first quarter, we will also vaccinate frontline employees. From May, the goal is to have the opportunity to start vaccinations free of charge for all Estonian residents," Kiik noted.
He said so far almost 15,000 people have been vaccinated in Estonia and as more quantities of the COVID-19 vaccines are being delivered the vaccination process can be sped up.
Kiik said more than 13,000 vaccine doses should arrive in Estonia next week as there will be deliveries from both Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. The first batch of Moderna vaccines were delivered this week.
He said the government had made a decision to order 250,000 additional doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine instead of 150,000.
"This will allow nearly half a million people to be vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine alone. We have reason to believe that supplies will soon come from third and fourth vaccine manufacturers, such as AstraZeneca and Curevac," Kiik said.
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Editor: Helen Wright
