''Vaccination is of decisive importance. If we are vaccinated, we will have no deaths. If we say no to vaccination, we will have to pass through an ordeal similar to that of August; even more catastrophic,'' Deputy Director of the NCDC Paata Imnadze said.
In Imnadze's words vaccination rate has fallen, with this being immensely harmful to the country.
''We have hoped for a much higher number; what we got is only a quarter of what we hoped for. Correspondingly, when a new wave hits, cases will increase, and deaths will follow. We have already seen examples of this worldwide; take Israel: cases are much higher per 100,000 citizens there, but deaths are eight or ten times lower than in Georgia,'' Imnadze said, adding that other countries face a similar situation, with death toll being low as a high percentage of people are vaccinated there. ''This is of decisive significance: if we are vaccinated, we will have no deaths,'' he stressed.
Per the 23 September NCDC data, 1,700,895 vaccines have so far been administered in the country. Georgia has 33.8% or 960,081 citizens who have so far taken their first doses and 25.9% or 740,814 people having already received both doses.
Georgia recorded 1,653 new coronavirus cases, 47 deaths, and 2,646 recoveries in the past 24 hours.
A total of 12,948 citizens were vaccinated on 22 September.
