The Czech health ministry has recommended regional health officials halt new COVID-19 vaccinations for the coming two weeks to prioritize second doses due to concern about delivery delays, a ministry spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
The situation in a specific region must be evaluated primarily by the regional coordinator, said ministry spokeswoman Barbora Peterová.
“The Health Ministry recommends interrupting first-dose vaccinations and suspending reservations for such vaccinations for 14 days,” Peterová said.
Some regions, including Central Bohemia, have canceled reserved dates for seniors who have already registered for vaccination.
“It’s not about the organization, but about deliveries. Now we are in a situation where we can vaccinate everyone with the second dose, but we will not be able to open any term for seniors over 80 years old for the next 14 days, because we do not have vaccines,” confirmed the Governor of the South Bohemian Region Martin Kuba (ODS).
According to the ministry, 222,450 vaccines have been administered so far.
Pfizer-BioNTec and Moderna are the only two vaccines available in the Czech Republic. AstraZeneca’s vaccine could be approved by the European Union by the end of the month.
Czech Seniors are primarily vaccinated in social and medical facilities.
Latest statistics
The health ministry recorded 9,144 new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, down from 9,605 new cases reported on the same day a week earlier.
In total, 956,155 infections have been recorded since March. Hospitalizations stood at 6,043.
Officials have sought to cut the number of hospitalized patients to 3,000. The ministry reports 222,450 people have received a vaccine shot.
The official death toll from COIVD-19 reached 15,791 on Wednesday, rising by 173 on the day, according to Health Ministry data.
The figure includes 80 deaths reported on Tuesday and the rest for previous days as reports come in with a delay.
