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When will the next shipment of vaccines arrive in Lithuania?
The second shipment of vaccines should arrive in Lithuania on December 29. It should be a bit higher than the first one, which consisted of 9,750 doses of vaccine. Then the doctors will get more vaccines.
The third shipment of vaccines is scheduled for early January, after which shipments should arrive in Lithuania regularly every week.
Those doctors who on December 27. were vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine, the second dose will be administered 21 days later, on January 17.
How long will it take for all doctors to get vaccinated?
It is not yet clear. This will depend on the quantities of vaccine supplied to Lithuania. However, all physicians are expected to be vaccinated within the first 2021. quarter.
VIDEO: In Panevėžys, the first doctors were vaccinated against COVID-19: common sense prevailed
Who will be the first to get the vaccine after the medication?
Under the current plan, vaccination will be carried out in the following order: first by physicians, then by staff and residents of nursing and care facilities, then by people with chronic diseases and those over 65, and finally by public vaccination, when all can be vaccinated.
The municipalities will be used to coordinate the second phase of vaccination. The coordinators appointed by the directors of the municipal administrations will coordinate the vaccination process in a particular municipality and the personal health care institutions that will organize the vaccination of priority groups.
When will everyone who wants to get vaccinated?
So far, it is difficult to say. This depends both on the quantities of the already approved vaccine that will be supplied to Lithuania and when the vaccines from other manufacturers will be approved.
Until now, according to preliminary forecasts, mass vaccination of the population could begin in the second quarter of 2021, and during the summer, all Lithuanian residents can be vaccinated. However, these forecasts are still subject to change.
The vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer, which has already been initiated by doctors, is not the only vaccine ordered by Lithuania. But this vaccine is so far the only one approved for use in the European Union. How quickly you are vaccinated will also depend on whether and how quickly other COVID-19 vaccines are approved.
Photo by Zita Katkienė / The first doctors were vaccinated at Šiauliai Hospital
Another vaccine manufactured by Moderna is currently expected to be registered in Europe in early January. The vaccine has already been registered in the United States, the United Kingdom, and some other countries.
In total, Lithuania has entered into agreements with six vaccine manufacturers and intends to purchase more than 7 million of them. dose of vaccine.
They should be sufficient to vaccinate at least 70%. population of the country. According to experts, such a proportion of the vaccinated population would guarantee herd immunity against the coronavirus.
How many doses of vaccine will it take to gain immunity to the virus? How long will immunity develop?
BioNTech and Pfizer, the first COVID-19 vaccine approved in Europe, are currently being vaccinated. Immunity, according to clinical trials, is administered by two doses of BioNTech and Pfizer, the second 21 days after the first. Data from clinical trials suggest that COVID-19 is reduced by 95%.
It is given by injection into a muscle in the arm, similar to the flu shot. Immunity develops one week after the second dose.
Will the vaccine be paid for?
Both the vaccine itself and the vaccination service will be free.
Tomas Markelevičius / 15min photo / Medical vaccination in Panevėžys
Will children be given the vaccine?
At least for now, no. The BioNTech and Pfizer vaccine, already approved in Lithuania, is intended for people over 16 years of age and is not recommended for younger people.
Will vaccination be mandatory?
Vaccination will not be mandatory. However, unvaccinated people may face some restrictions, such as the obligation to have not only an identity document and a plane ticket, but also a vaccination passport when flying.
Unvaccinated physicians and healthcare professionals may not be able to work with seriously ill patients.
VIDEO: Kaunas clinics vaccinated first nurse, feels great
Will the vaccine be administered to pregnant or nursing mothers?
Animal studies do not indicate harmful effects with respect to pregnancy, but there are very limited data from the use of BioNTech and Pfizer in pregnant or lactating women.
The decision to use the vaccine in pregnant or lactating women should only be made after consultation with a healthcare professional and after evaluating the benefits and risks of vaccination.
Will I be able to get vaccinated if I have already had COVID-19?
People in the studies who had already received COVID-19 had no additional side effects, making vaccination possible.
Although COVID-19 relieves immunity, according to current data, this immunity does not last for life, so vaccination is worthwhile if it has been a long time since the disease.
Will COVID-19 disappear after mass vaccination?
It’s hard to say yet, but the disease is unlikely to go away. However, scientists hope that an effective vaccine and adequate vaccination coverage will prevent the spread of a pandemic in society. Only isolated cases or outbreaks will be recorded.
VIDEO: Vilnius’ first doctors vaccinated: “We will finally be able to live normally again”
This immunity acquired after vaccination is called group immunity. Vaccination of the majority of the population also protects people who, due to their immune disorders, cannot be vaccinated or who do not develop effective immunity after vaccination.
Therefore, by getting vaccinated, we not only protect ourselves and our loved ones, but also vulnerable members of society.
Similarly, now with, for example, measles – all this time it has not gone away, but with the spread of measles vaccines, this disease is now extremely rare and most people are protected against it.
How long will immunity last after vaccination? Will it be necessary to get vaccinated regularly?
It is not yet clear. Because the virus that causes COVID-19 is new, it is not yet known for how long the vaccines will confer immunity against COVID-19. COVID-19 vaccination may be required on a regular basis.
And will the vaccine protect against viral mutations?
Not yet known. Viruses mutate frequently, but the mutations do not necessarily affect the effectiveness of the vaccine against the virus.
Some vaccines against viral diseases remain effective for many years after development and provide long-term protection.
On the other hand, in diseases such as influenza, the virus strains change so frequently and so frequently that the composition of the vaccine must be updated every year to be effective.
The scientific community and regulators will monitor whether the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus changes over time and, if so, whether vaccines can protect people from infection.
Specifically, the virus mutation recently observed in the United Kingdom and already detected in other European countries is still awaiting the results of studies on how the mutation will affect the efficacy of vaccines.
But so far, the researchers say the vaccine is more likely to confer resistance to the mutated virus, since 99% of the mutated virus is also resistant. the protein remained the same.
In addition, the manufacturers Pfizer and BioNTech assure that the vaccine will be adapted in a month and a half, if necessary, to combat the new strain of coronavirus.
What Makes the COVID-19 Vaccine Safe?
All vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, are under in-depth research and development. The vaccines should only be used in human trials after careful investigation.
These tests are also divided into several phases. During Phase I, few healthy volunteers receive the vaccine. During this phase, safety, allergic reactions, immunogenicity (ability to activate the immune system) are studied.
If the vaccine is safe, well tolerated, and immunogenic, it enters Phase II, during which more volunteers receive the vaccine and safety is further evaluated, the vaccine dose, dosing schedule, and other clinical parameters are determined. important. A successful Phase II vaccine is being studied in Phase III clinical trials.
The vaccine / placebo model is most often used during this phase, and subjects are divided into at least two groups, one receiving the study vaccine and the other receiving a placebo or another vaccine that is already on the market. During this phase, the safety profiles of both groups and the efficacy of the vaccine are compared.
Only after a phase III vaccine that meets the safety requirements can it be approved and put into service in untested condition.
Final data from phase III clinical trials of the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines in Lithuania have already been published. They showed that the vaccine is 95% effective. 28 days after the second dose. It did not differ between different ages, races, genders, ethnic demographics. In the group over 65, the vaccine was 94% effective.
How to get those numbers? Both the real vaccine and the placebo vaccine were injected in large numbers, about 18,000 each. volunteers. A total of 170 COVID-19 cases were recorded in both groups combined during the follow-up period.
Up to 162 were recorded in volunteers who received placebo and only 8 in volunteers who received the actual vaccine. This shows that the vaccine is effective.
What are the possible side effects of the vaccine?
The most common side effects during the Pfizer and BioNTech study were pain and swelling at the injection site, tiredness, headache, muscle and joint pain, chills, and fever. These effects occurred in more than 1 in 10 people in the studies.
But these sensations were mild to moderate, and people’s health improved within days of the vaccination. There is currently no evidence that the vaccine has long-term effects.
The text was prepared from the page www.koronastop.lt, as well as the text of the scientists Ugnė Ringelevičiūtė and Ingrida Olendraitė published on the page www.covidmed.lt and from December 26 to 27. Comments made by representatives of the Ministry of Health in the public sphere. The information is preliminary and may change over time.
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