By: V4 Agency
All those who sign up will be vaccinated in the country by the end of August, according to the revised schedule.
By using more vaccination points and administering jabs first according to birth dates, and then without any age restrictions, Poland will switch to a mass vaccination strategy, reporters were told during Tuesday afternoon’s press briefing, held jointly by Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Health Minister Adam Niedzielski and Minister Michal Dworczyk, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office.
The government has set the goal to administer 10 million vaccinations a month, Mr Morawiecki said, adding that meeting this target depends on available vaccine supplies. In terms of access to vaccines, Mr Dworczyk stressed that manufacturers had promised to deliver more than 5 million, maybe even 7 million doses to Poland in April.
The government will, in addition to other measures, set up more vaccination points to boost the efficiency of the inoculation campaign, journalists were told at the press briefing. Besides healthcare institutions, jabs will also be administered at inoculation points designated by the municipalities, as well as at factories, pharmacies, and drive-through points.
In line with the modified strategy, health authorities will switch to a mass vaccination campaign based on age brackets. This means that, starting from 12 April, registration for the vaccination will be based on dates (i.e. years) of birth each day, so in the ten days between 12-23 April those born between 1962 and 1972 will be eligible to register. The first applicants in the rollout will receive the jab in April and, presumably by May, inoculation will be made available to everyone who signs up, regardless of their birth years.
Should suppliers accelerate their vaccine deliveries, then health authorities will be able to administer 20 million jabs by the end of Q2, and every Pole who registered on a voluntary basis will be inoculated by the end of August.
Mateusz Morawiecki also underlined that as of Tuesday afternoon, health authoritis have managed to administer 6 million doses in Poland, a country boasting a population of over 31 million. According to the health ministry, more than 2 million people have already received the necessary second jab.