Not enough vaccines ordered?

Czechia ordered 81.1% doses offered by the EC and will lag behind most EU countries in vaccination rate - writes the IHNED.cz server.

According to a document acquired by the server, the Czech Republic will have enough doses to vaccinate 44% of its adult population by the end of June. Among the EU countries, only Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia and Latvia will be able to vaccinate a smaller proportion of the population.

The authenticity of the document was confirmed by two high-ranking sources close to the negotiations. It furthermore shows that Malta has secured so many doses that it could vaccinate 92% of its citizens by the end of June. Denmark should have enough for 79% and for example Romania for 56%, lagging just behind Germany, France or Finland.

According to experts, about 70% of adults need to get their jabs to achieve collective immunity against Covid-19. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) has rejected the claim that Czechia has not ordered enough doses. And the Minister of Health Jan Blatný (for ANO) said that as soon as he became Minister in October, he decided to increase the supply of vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. The Czech Republic has now ordered 8 million more doses than in the autumn, a total of 26 million.

All EU countries were able to buy a number of vaccines from each manufacturer corresponding to their population. The IHNED.cz server states that the low number of orders was due to the fact that voices demanding a thrifty approach had a strong influence in the government.

The cabinet's goal is to vaccinate 70% of adults by the end of summer. Blatný said at the beginning of March that by the end of June, vaccines for 5.3 million Czechs should be available. So far, more than million people have received one dose of the Covid-19 vaccines and around 370,000 got both doses.