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Daily vaccination numbers dropped on Sunday despite health officials urging the public to get the booster dose given the spread of the Omicron variant.
According to Epidemiology Unit data, COVID-19 vaccines were administered to 5,243 persons on Sunday, of which 4,751 persons received the booster dose.
Health officials have stressed the importance of the booster dose given the spread of the Omicron variant. The Association of Medical Specialists (AMS) in a statement issued yesterday warned that the Omicron variant will cause a massive wave of infection during the coming weeks, given the number of gatherings during the festive season.
“The only way to tackle this wave would be to get vaccinated, wear a mask, keep a safe distance, open windows for adequate ventilation, clean your hands, and cough and sneeze safely,” they wrote, adding that these precautions must be taken even after vaccination.
The AMS added that two vaccine doses have been shown to be insufficient. “However, a booster dose of Pfizer given to people vaccinated with two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine boosted the effectiveness against clinical disease to 70%. It is quite probable that the vaccines would prevent severe disease in most people,” they said.
The AMS went on to say that only 25% of the target population has received the booster dose, which puts the remainder of the population at risk of contracting clinical disease with the Omicron variant.
“Therefore, AMS strongly urges everyone to take the booster in order to reduce chances of clinical disease, protect the vulnerable, prevent hospital capacity being overwhelmed, and prevent a lockdown, which could lead our country to further economic disaster,” the statement read.
The booster dose has been administered to 4,077,369 persons to date.
The Epidemiology Unit states that 15,993,891 persons have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 13,846,752 persons have received the second dose as well.
According to the Epidemiology Unit, 94.6% of the country’s population over 20 years has received the first and second doses while 27.9% has received the booster dose.
According to Our World in Data, the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine has been administered to 74.4% of the country’s population and the second dose has been administered to 64.41% of the population.
On Sunday, 105 persons received the first dose of Sinopharm and 108 persons received the second dose. In total, the first dose of Sinopharm has been administered to 11,974,408 persons and the second dose has been administered to 11,006,367 persons.
The first dose of Pfizer has been administered to 1,575,941 persons and the second dose has been administered to 478,619 persons. On Sunday, 84 persons received the first dose of Pfizer, and 195 persons received the second dose of the vaccine.
The first dose of AstraZeneca has been administered to 1,479,631 persons and 1,418,593 persons have received the second dose as well.
The Epidemiology Unit states that 804,801 persons have received the first dose of Moderna and 787,361 persons have received the second dose of the vaccine.
The first dose of Sputnik V has been administered to 159,110 persons and the second dose has been administered to 155,812 persons.
