Speaking during a news conference, Zoi Dorothea Pana said vaccine distribution could start this month “if all goes well.”

Pana said two companies, Astra Zeneca and Biontech Pfizer, have pledged to start supplying countries with their vaccine in December.

Cyprus expects to receive 1,192,043 doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine starting in the fourth quarter of this year, through to the second quarter of 2022.

Similarly, delivery of 391,637 doses of the Biontech Pfizer vaccine is expected to start this month and continue until the third quarter of 2021.

Both vaccines are dispensed in two doses per person.

The first people to receive the vaccine are health professionals in the public and private sectors, followed by population groups who have a high-risk of serious illness if they are infected by the virus.

Essential workers like police, cleaners, public transport workers, food supply staff, and so on will be next in line due to the risk of them spreading the virus because of the nature of their work.

Pana could not immediately say how many people would have to be vaccinated to achieve the so-called herd immunity.

“We can’t accurately say at this stage what the percentage of coverage should be,” she said, adding that scientists would have a better picture of the situation when the vaccinations get underway.

Source: Cyprus Mail