Filenews 26 October 2022 - by Marilena Panayi
The message of Cypriot citizens for the booster vaccination for COVID-19 is loud and clear. Even with regard to elderly people who are considered the most vulnerable and face the greatest risk for severe symptoms, admission to Intensive Care Units and death, the vaccination rate with 4th and 5th dose is much below the expectations of those in charge, with the phenomenon being rather pan-European since the most recent data from the European Center for Disease Control (ECDC) are at the same levels.
In Cyprus, in terms of the general population, 66% had received the 3rd dose of the vaccine. It is recalled that the 3rd instalment was included by the Government in the entry conditions through SafePass and was thus implicitly but clearly "mandatory".
The percentages so far, in terms of receiving a second booster (4th) dose or a third booster (5th) dose both in the general population and in people over 60 years of age clearly reflect the intentions of citizens.
Specifically, and according to the data released yesterday by the Ministry of Health, 66% of the general population over the age of 18 received the 3rd / booster dose. The rate for the 4th dose is 5.9% for the general population while for people over 60 years of age, it is at 19.9%. The corresponding percentage in the EU, for booster vaccinations, stood yesterday at 19.3% and in Greece at 19.1%.
Regarding the analysis of the data for Cyprus, according to the data of the Ministry of Health, 86% of people over 60 years of age received the 3rd dose, 19.9% received the 4th dose and only 1% received the 5th dose. For the entire population, the 3rd dose received 53.5%, the 4th dose 4.8% and the 5th dose 0.2%. At ages 18 and older, 66% received the 3rd dose, 5.9% received the 4th dose and 0.3% received the 5th dose. It is reported that at younger ages the 4th and 5th dose mainly concerns chronic patients and health professionals.
In the remaining data, from September 20 to October 19, 2022, a total of 10,224 doses were administered. 397 were for the 1st dose, 96 for the 2nd dose, 705 for the 3rd dose, 7,053 were for the 4th dose and 1973 (mainly for the elderly) received the 5th dose.
In total in Cyprus, 670,202 people have received one dose of the vaccine, 645,830 received a second dose, 479,364 people received a 3rd dose, 42,988 received a 4th dose and 1,976 received a 5th dose.
With these data, it is found that citizens have probably not responded to the call of the State to receive the updated vaccines against COVID-19, while the reduction in numbers between the 3rd dose (indirectly mandatory) and the second and third booster vaccination clearly demonstrate the intentions of society.
