On May 10, 2021, Azerbaijan has started mass vaccination of all citizens over 18 years old.
COVID-19 vaccination in Azerbaijan was launched on January 18, 2021, but until now it was limited to certain populations, such as health care workers.
In support of moving to this comprehensive stage of public health measures, when any adult can receive the shot, WHO country office in Azerbaijan launched the #PeyvəndOlundum (#IamVaccinated) campaign as part of the vaccination support efforts in Azerbaijan.
After taking the vaccine, people are invited to join the campaign using the specially designed profile picture frame in Facebook (following the link at: https://bit.ly/3hdZjSS).
As reported by 1news.az, citing the Ministry of Health of Azerbaijan, vaccination is carried out with “CoronaVac” vaccine developed by the Chinese Sinovac Biotech. In addition, starting from May 3, 2021, Azerbaijan offers its citizens “Vaxzevria” produced by the British-Swedish AstraZeneca, which is intended for use in people older than 60 years old in this country and is given in Baku (the capital) and six more regions. A total of 84 000 doses of Vaxzevria were delivered to Azerbaijan as part of COVAX collaborative platform. Another source of vaccine procurement is Russian “SPUTNIC V” – delivered to Azerbaijan on May 2, 2021. All these vaccines are acquired under the “Strategy for vaccination against COVID-19 in Azerbaijan in 2021-2022” – a strategic document approved by the Prime-Minister of Azerbaijan on January 16, 2021.
According to the Operational Headquarters under the Cabinet of Ministers, 170 additional people were vaccinated against COVID-19 in Azerbaijan on May 10, 2021.
As of May 10th, 1 687 567 citizens have received the vaccine, of which 1 005 704 (10% of the entire population, based on the latest official population census*) received the first dose of the vaccine; and 681 863 people (6.77%) received the second dose of the vaccine**.
* State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan at: https://www.stat.gov.az/source/demoqraphy/ap/
**Based on information from the following sources:
https://www.azernews.az/healthcare/178849.html
https://1news.az/news/20210510092735107-V-Azerbaidzhane-startovala-vaktsinatsiya-lits-starshe-18-let
