Czech Republic crosses two million Covid-19 vaccine doses administered

Czech healthcare workers have now administered more than two million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine against so far, according to data released by the Czech Health Ministry today.

About 1.34 million people have received at least one dose, and 690,000 have received both doses.

Covid-19 vaccination began in the Czech Republic on December 27, 2020. The country's population is roughly 10.7 million people.

By Friday evening, 2,036,800 vaccine have been administered and 692,274 people have received both necessary doses.

The highest daily number of doses so far were applied on Thursday, at more than 64,000 according to updated figures. The ministry has reported 59,463 doses applied on Friday.

Three types of vaccine against coronavirus have been used in the Czech Republic so far. Nearly 77 percent of the vaccines applied are those from Pfizer/BioNTech, 13 percent from AstraZeneca and 10 percent from Moderna.

In late April, the first deliveries of the vaccine from Johnson & Johnson should arrive. Unlike the vaccines currently being used, only one dose from Johnson & Johnson is needed.

Currently, senior citizens over 70, health and social service workers, those from the integrated emergency system, and some chronic patients are being vaccinated in the Czech Republic.

As of Monday, chronic patients who did not previously have the chance will be able to register for vaccination. As of Wednesday, registration will also be possible for those over 65.

There are about 670,000 people aged 65-69 in the country, but Health Minister Petr Arenberger put the number of new vaccine registrations at 400,000 as some people in their late 60s have already registered for vaccination.

By the end of June, about 58 percent of the Czech Republic's adult population could be inoculated, Arenberger said.

PM Andrej Babiš said in mid-March that the goal is to vaccinate 100,000 people a day this month. The capacities of vaccination centers and general practitioners are now sufficient for that pace, but there is not enough supply.

Babiš said producers originally promised to supply 2.6 million vaccines to the Czech Republic in April, but the country will receive only 1.56 million of them due to supply cuts and redistribution changes in the second quarter of the year.

The supply cuts mainly apply to AstraZeneca, Babiš said after touring Prague's new vaccination center on Friday. The center in 02 Universum will open on May 3, one month later than originally planned.

Babiš said the Czech Republic has ordered 27 million vaccines, enough for 14.5 million people in total.