TIRANA, Sept. 13 – In the midst of the Delta wave and with vaccination rates remaining low despite availability, Albanian authorities are moving to make COVID-10 vaccinations mandatory for new groups in the public sector, education and healthcare sectors.
University students and professors will be required to be vaccinated to attend classes at the start of the academic year on Oct. 1.
State administration employees, police officers, pharmacists and laboratory technicians are also among the people whose vaccination will be mandatory, according to an announcement by Deputy Health Minister Eugena Tomini. The compliance deadline has not been issued for this latter category.
The small northern town of Puka became the first municipality this week to require employees to vaccinate in order to go to work, otherwise they must present a weekly negative test, said Mayor Gjon Gjonaj, citing an increase in infections in the area.
In addition to previous campaigns targeting healthcare workers and those most at risk, Albania has had open vaccination for people over 18 since Aug. 1. However, vaccination rates remain low, with only 23 percent of the population being fully vaccinated, and about 30 percent having at least one dose.
By contrast, the country is in the middle of a massive Delta wave, with new case number averages being similar to the first wave last November. Health authorities note that the majority of cases in hospitals and fatalities are not vaccinated, urging unvaccinated people to get the jab.
China’s CoronaVac has been the most used vaccine so far, with about half those vaccinated taking this vaccine. Shots made by Pfizer and AstraZeneca are the second and third most used. Smaller numbers of Russia’s Sputnik and India’s Covishield have also been used.
However, authorities do not allow people to choose which type of vaccine they can take, leading to refusal by some to take the jab offered, based on the type of vaccine offered. These include people who need a vaccine approved for travel and others who worry about efficacy and side effects.
