TIRANA, Dec. 6 – Albania is making vaccines against COVID-19 mandatory for certain groups, including public administration and service sector employees, government officials said this week.
The government’s Technical Committee of Experts recommended that all state, supermarket and shopping center employees be forced to take the vaccine or face weekly testing for COVID-19.
The expert body also approved a proposal to have booster shots available to anyone over 18 if it has been six months since their last shot of COVID-19 vaccine. The booster was earlier available to the elderly and those with certain conditions.
The aim is to increase the vaccination protection to the population as the tempo of vaccinations has dropped significantly in the last two months.
“The committee has decided that by December 31, all employees of public administration, employees of supermarkets and shopping centers who have not been vaccinated yet, must be vaccinated, because on Jan. 4, they will be required to provide a vaccination card or a negative PCR test every 5 days,” said Mira Rakacolli, the chairwoman of the Technical Committee of Experts.
It remains to be seen how this decision will be implemented. A similar measure was taken before the start of the academic year at universities, but it was openly ignored by students and authorities backtracked on enforcement.
Vaccination rates shrank by more than half in November, compared to August and September, dropping to a daily average of 4,203 vaccinations. Of these 2,310 were second doses and only 1,900 citizens sought to get the first dose.
Prime Minister Edi Rama publicly took his booster shot earlier in week, expressing anger over what he called “charlatans” who go on television and the internet and say science and authorities cannot be trusted.
“Some internet lunatics spreading all sorts of conspiracy theories. This is scandalous and shameful,” Rama said.
Authorities said 94 percent of people in Albanian hospitals with COVID-19 are unvaccinated and the vaccine protects both from getting infected and from hospitalization and death if there is a breakthrough infection.
“What else can be said today other than get vaccinated,” Rama said.
The expert body also left sending current measures, which force all businesses to close at 11 p.m., make masks mandatory inside and limit the number of people gathering indoors.
These last two measures have been widely ignored by the public and businesses since the government stepped down enforcement and fines.
Following similar measures by EU countries, the Albanian government also announced a ban on entry into Albania of foreigners who in the last 14 days had visited six countries in southern Africa where the new coronavirus variant, Omicron, was discovered.
