“The COVID-19 vaccines uninterruptedly enter Georgia, but the vaccination rate is very low,” the Head of Infectious Diseases and AIDS Centre, Tengiz Tsertsvadze, said on Wednesday.

Tsertsvadze noted that a high skepticism in society stops mass vaccination. He also stressed that the rate of facemask-wear in public dwindled from 70 to 42 %.

Tengiz Tsertsvadze urges citizens to get the COVID-19 vaccine and warns of the likely worsening of the situation otherwise.

“Vaccination and face mask can reduce new cases, minimize and even nullify fatalities. If we refuse vaccination and face mask, the third wave of coronavirus will be unavoidable,” he added.

Tsertsvadze does not rule out that the low vaccination rate could lead the government to lift the Covid-19 vaccination age limit.

Georgia received the first batch of 43,200 doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine on March 13. The country will secure 29,250 doses of the Pfizer vaccine today.

Georgia received 43,200 doses of AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine produced via COVAX Facility. UNICEF supported Govt in procuring these vaccines. Vaccinations process is scheduled to start on 15 March in priority groups identified by Govt, with Med. workers among the first prio group. pic.twitter.com/qxySFdNmAw

— UNICEF Georgia (@unicefgeorgia) March 13, 2021