Cyprus Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou said on Monday that the country is waiting the delivery of 60,000 COVID-19 vaccines this week, adding that on Wednesday people aged 61 and over will become eligible to receive the vaccine.
In statements after a parliamentary committee on financial and budgetary affairs and replying to a question about whether people will be following the example set by a number of health professionals who decided not be vaccinated Ioannou said that the majority of people have shown willingness to be vaccinated, adding that so far vaccination coverage for people aged 80 and over is over 80% and people aged 70 – 79 is over 75%.
Referring to a supplementary budget he presented today to MPs the Health Minister said that a large part of it has to do with expenditure for the National Health System, adding that in particular €60 million are earmarked for expenditure to do with dealing with the pandemic and supporting the strategy followed by the government.
“In a nutshell, these 60 million euros have to do with the purchase of more vaccines, buying services for diagnostic tests, buying services to man the contact tracing team, the epidemiological surveillance unit, public health centres, buying the services of the hospitality centre Eden and various other services,” he pointed out.
This, Ioannou noted, demonstrates in practice the state’s support of the strategy which has been decided and which is based on the pillars of testing, vaccination and upholding health protocols.
Referring in particular to testing, he explained that it is a key pillar of our strategy because it gives us immediately a picture of the epidemiological situation and allows us to detect infections, isolate them and prevent the virus from spreading in time.
The Health Minister said that last week over 350,000 tests were carried out in Cyprus, covering nearly half the population of over 18 years of age, adding that Cyprus has had this strategy from the beginning while other countries are just now trying to adopt it.
At the same time, Ioannou said, our vaccination plan is being enhanced, adding that “this week we will receive over 60,000 doses. On Wednesday, he noted, people aged 61 and over will be eligible to book an appointment to be vaccinated, adding that on Friday or Saturday people aged 57 or 58 and over will also become eligible depending on the demand. He also said that in the coming weeks vaccination of other vulnerable groups of people is expected to be intensified.
Replying to a question about the AstraZeneca vaccine, Ioannou reiterated that “all four approved vaccines are effective and safe.” He also pointed out that Cyprus follows the EMA’s recommendations. “Our policy is to give people the correct information on the basis of scientific data,” he added. He also said that actions by other countries to first not vaccinate people over 65 with the vaccine and now not to vaccinate people under 60 constitutes a source of confusion to people.