The Ministry of Social Affairs said that Estonia has vaccinated some 39,500 people over the last week of which 5,513 on Saturday. Vaccination efforts will continue on Sunday, the ministry promised.

Family doctors will continue to vaccinate people in risk groups next week, with immunization of education and social workers also set to continue. In addition to essential workers, vaccination of persons in important strategic positions, such as members of the Riigikogu and government, will also commence in March.

Vaccinations were handled by 59 medical institutions, including 45 family medicine clinics all over Estonia on Saturday. A total of 476 different healthcare service providers have handled vaccinations so far. Over half of all vaccinations have been carried out by 390 family medicine centers.

"Family medicine centers make up the part of the healthcare system that is closest to where people live, which has allowed us to vaccinate people without forcing them to travel far. While this makes logistics more complicated for us, it makes going in for a shot more comfortable and safer for residents," Minister of Health and Labor Tanel Kiik said in a press release. "The trust Estonians place in our family doctors and nurses is deservedly high, which means that willingness to be vaccinated remains strong. I would like to thank all of our dedicated medical professionals for their daily efforts to protect as many people as possible from COVID-19 through vaccination," the minister added.

Around one-third (32.2 percent) of people 80 years of age and older have now been vaccinated with at least one dose. Coverage is 16 percent in the 75-79 age group, 15.3 percent in the 70-74 age group, 16.7 percent in the 65-69 age group, 16.3 percent in the 60-64 age group and 14 percent in the 55-59 age group. Of 50-54-year-olds, 13.8 percent have been vaccinated. People under the age of 50 who have received at least one dose of vaccine make up 7.3 percent.

Lääne County leads the pack when it comes to vaccination of people over the age of 80 (55.3 percent), followed by Saaremaa (55.1 percent), Hiiumaa (53.3 percent), Rapla County (51.9 percent), Järva County (49.2 percent), Pärnu County (46.6 percent), Jõgeva County (42.3 percent), Viljandi County (40.8 percent) and Tartu County (33.2 percent).

Vaccination coverage is lowest in Ida-Viru County where just 5 percent of residents have received at least one dose of vaccine (10 percent of people who are 80 or older).

The week so far has seen 39,588 shots administered, up 6,020 from last week. Estonia is set to take delivery of much smaller quantities of vaccine next week, with 14,040 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine coming on Monday and 2,400 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Friday.

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