A total of 230,000 people across the country have received the COVID-19 vaccine since the star of the mass immunisation campaign, while more than 10,000 doses have been administered in the district of Gjirokaster alone, the Minister of Health and Social Protection Ogerta Manastriliu said as she accompanied the Prime Minister Edi Rama during a visit to the vaccination site to closely monitor the process in the southern municipality.

“We have started to expand the vaccine eligibility to include younger ages here in Gjirokaster, although we expect to expand the eligibility throughout the country this week to include people 65 and 60 years old and patients with chronic diseases. We have actually faced some difficulties following suspension of inbound and outbound flights that led to cancellation of the flight that was scheduled to bring the next shipment of the vaccines. We are seeking to speed up the vaccination campaign and we are currently administering around 30,000 doses each day,” Health Minister said.

Commenting on the most recent problems following suspension of flights and the delay of the scheduled delivery of the next vaccine shipment, PM Rama said: “What is unacceptable and unjustifiable is that we have actually lost the yesterday’s vaccine shipment. This is really painful at a wartime when each second and each minute is precious at a time we are working around the clock. However, it is definitely for sure that the destructive forces, completely blind forces of the past that are seeking to take hostage the future and halt this process, they stand no chance of doing so. They have miscalculated their moves and they have embarked in challenging the wrong government and Prime Minister.”