Tbilisi Opens COVID Vaccination for Sokhumi, Tskhinvali Resident Medics, Seniors

Reconciliation Minister Tea Akhvlediani announced today that medical personnel and citizens above 65 residing in occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia can now receive COVID-19 vaccination in Georgia proper.

These are the same two priority groups currently allowed to register for COVID vaccination in Georgia proper. The country began vaccine rollout on March 15, with AstraZeneca/Oxford shots having arrived the first, followed by Pfizer/BioNTech jabs. According to the latest data by Georgia’s National Center for Disease Control and Public Health, 4,344 persons have so far been vaccinated in Georgia proper, while another 11,273 have signed up for inoculation.

In Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region vaccination has not begun yet. Russia initiated the vaccine rollout for the personnel of its military bases in both occupied regions on January 15, but the general populations there have so far been left without vaccines.

Tskhinvali-based RES News Agency reported earlier that South Ossetian authorities expect to receive 1,500 doses of Russian Sputnik V by the end of March. Meanwhile, Abkhaz authorities requested to purchase Sputnik V vaccine from Moscow in September of last year, but have yet to receive the doses, Sokhumi-based Apsnypress reported.

As of March 29, a total of 13,385 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Abkhazia, of which 12,860 patients have recovered and 212 passed away. Authorities in Tskhinvali have confirmed a total of 3,296 cases with 2,898 patients having already recovered. The number of COVID-related fatalities in Tskhinvali was last reported on in mid-January and stood at “more than 60” deaths.

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