Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili Takes AstraZeneca Vaccine

Today, on March 18, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili demonstratively took the AstraZeneca vaccine on live TV. Georgia received its first batch of coronavirus vaccines on March 13, when 43,200 doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford arrived in Tbilisi. On March 15, the vaccination process has been launched across the country.

After taking the AstraZeneca jab, Zurabishvili noted that the vaccination is the way out of the dire economic consequences that were brought about by the global pandemic.

“I got the vaccine out of turn today because it was not for the president to take it and I do not think I belong to the group it belongs to. First, there are doctors, nurses, and medical staff who have passed a very difficult test these months. If we want to get out of the very dire economic consequences of the global pandemic, we must use what we have been given and will be given to protect society, the country and get out of this crisis. I wish you all good health and I am sure we will overcome this challenge and others as well”, – stated Zurabishvili.

For information, according to the national vaccination plan, the first risk group to be vaccinated in Georgia is the medical personnel. However, there are ongoing concerns expressed by the Georgian healthcare top officials regarding the law rates of vaccination among the medical sector representatives. It should be also noted that, according to the director of the Infectious Diseases Hospital, Tengiz Tsertsvadze, the Pfizer vaccine will arrive in Georgia on March 22.