Good interview of Head of @NCDCGeorgia Amiran Gamkrelidze with @RTavisupleba's Gogi Gvakharia. https://bit.ly/2PC5ox8 

A VERY LONG THREAD below:

GG: Good activity on the registrations on the Chinese vaccine. Particularly among youth, particularly in Tbilisi. Expected?

AG: Yes, we had such expectations. Would've been even bigger activity, but the bookings were allowed up until May 15. Tbilisi was 4000+ bookings out of the initial 6000 that were done overnight.

AG: Per our internal surveys we understand and had the expectations that young people were more eager to get vaccinated. We only had one choice for them at the moment, to go with this [Chinese] option. We had learned the new stamp have become aggressive for young people too.

We only have 100K doses so far, which is not much. We hope to have more in May. Doesn't mean we will not consider other types of vaccines. We are in active talks with Pfizer reps in Germany and US. Annual capacity is 1bln doses, with priority of EU. There will be openings for us

GG: There is a talk that Chinese vaccine hasn't worked so well in Turkey for example.

AM: Turkey has the other kind of Chinese vaccine, which we will also receive eventually (Sinovac). Turkey has currently vaccinated 13mln people with 1 dose, 6mln with 2 doses. 80mln population

Its hard to have a herd immunity with such numbers for now. But this vaccine has worked well in UAE for example. Dubai is an attractive place for tourism, including vaccination tourism currently. Serbia, Hungary also have worked well with this vaccine.

Its quite clear and understood by everyone that initial defense effectiveness, meaning that you will not get the virus once vaccinated is relatively lower compared to Pfizer and Moderna. Sinopharm is closest to AstraZeneca. Per different studies 79%-86%.

However this vaccine [Sinopharm] has a relatively high defense rate against hospitalization and lethal outcomes. Same as all 8 known vaccines at the moment. This is the main goal of this vaccine.

GG: I was vaccinated on April 9 and I knew that the second dose would be in the space of 8-12 weeks. If I call the hot line it will be confirmed that way. But when I was getting the vaccination I was told 6 weeks, to come for the second dose end of May.

Why? Has it something to do with the supplies? We are suspicious people, so I want to clarify this.

AG: Definitely not. When AstraZeneca was created it was done for immediate use. None of the vaccines have a complete registration, they are for urgent use. All 8 of them

They all are being studied after their introduction stage, because of how quickly they were developed. Now, AstraZeneca's instruction says 6 weeks between the shots.

Later on,many UK studies showed that effectiveness is growing if the second shot is done in 8-12 wks. As you know even 1 jab gets you an immunity to an extent. Its best however to make a so-called booster and create immunity for longer.There are no precise studies on duration yet

We don't have examples and length of performance of the vaccines yet. Could be 6-8-12 months. Recently Pfizer president has come out and said that 'you may need to have a 3rd shot after 6-12 months to strengthen the immunity.

So we are giving this recommendation for AstraZeneca. We allow next vaccination in 6 weeks' time, for convenience, but we recommend 8-12 weeks.

GG: you guaranine there will be enough vaccines in June?

AG: Of course. On 30.04 we will receive 30K, in mid May another 43K [of AZ]

We've paid 700.000$ through Covax platform. Mostly AstraZeneca and Novavax will come through Covax vaccines and perhaps in the future (if approved by WHO) Chinese vaccines as well. Also small amount of Pfizer vaccines on Covax, including those that we received already.

Which is very little. Pfizer mostly went to rich countries. US mostly, because they have contributed money into developing the drug as well.

GG: About elderly people. A lot of them are being turned away because they haven't registered online. Any changes on that?

AG: On the contrary. They [professionals] know that they should not turn away elderly people. Turning away an elderly patients is not allowed in any case. As you know mostly vaccinations are done in hospitals, but now Chinese vaccine will also start in smaller clinics.

There will be a virtual cabinet everywhere and they will be registered and put in system on spot. A lot of elderly people get assistance from young people in their families, we have also asked volunteers from Red Cross, also medical students.

In June we plan to have 10K to 15K vaccination per day. In 4 big cities we plan to have big vaccinations centers. Tbilisi will have 3 of such centers, Rustavi, Kutaisi and Batumi 1 each.

GG: Are you sure there will be such a demand and no vaccines will go bad?

AG: Its hard to be sure, but we have to make it work, together. I speak about it often. Today vaccination is THE ONLY thing that can stop the pandemic. There is no cure/drug for this. Only in pipeline.

Therefore the only road to stop the pandemic is to vaccinate and create herd immunity.

GG: You'll need to convince doctors too, to get vaccinated.

AG: I agree, there is a lot of work on that front. Not only in Georgia. The willingness is from 25% to 97%. Highest in Denmark

GG: Easter regulations. Some in public think its very strict. Also the curfew, being very strict. Vaccination is very slow, are we compensating it with restrictions?

AG: Firstly, this disease, and generally with pandemics, biggest methods to fight it are restorations.

Quarantine is something that has been known in ancient times already. One thing is restrictions and the other thing is, if one has enough vaccines - a mass vaccination.

For example it took 12 years to defeat variola virus. Ended in 1979. There were 2 global efforts to beat it. Now we want to do all this much quicker. I don't think we can vaccinate 70% of adult population of the world in 1 yr, and may be only just adult population won't be enough

We know now that a lot of children are source of transmission of covid-19. We had serious restrictions that gave as very good results, we were global leaders in terms of human lives this time last year. With 19 deaths. We cannot take same measures today.

GG: But neither they are necessary. Or are they?

AG: They are. You spoke about Turkey earlier. Or European countries. Many have still have lockdowns. Israel, who are exemplary had lockdowns up until the end while vaccinating in parallel.

If we had stronger economy, in many countries 80% of income of population is being compensated by the state. Small businesses are getting support. This country doesn't have this possibility. We have to walk to knife's edge this period. Its difficult

Compared to last year the Easter regulations are softer. People should gather in template only if social distancing rules permit. Mask wearing both inside the church and outside. Church was asked to broadcast this message as well through loudspeakers

We have the tradition to visit cemeteries on Easter, but this year this will be restricted.

GG: Curfew during Easter night?
AG: Its moved from 11PM to 4AM.
GG: Does it not increase the risks?
AG: Its all comparative. To have relatively less cases.

GG: What about public transport and announced public holidays? Some are still asked to come to work.

AG: The goal is to decrease mobility. Its one of the weapons to fight the pandemic. Movement, gatherings to be restricted.

Essential services should provide stuff with transport, we had those talks with the city call. Our lab is near airport we wouldn't be able to work without transport, so we will provide buses for our staff. We rent buses.

GG: Indian stamp. There is rumor it already made it to Georgia and its not a public info. What can you say about it?

AG: It doesn't have particular aggressiveness compared to other stamps. India has a dire situation, but the new double mutated stamp is not primary cause of it.

They have British stamp mostly. Indian stamps spread as fast as others. Main reasons in India for this situation are religious gatherings in the period preceding. I can confirm that Georgian laboratories have not identified Indian stamps yet.

As you know flights with India are restricted. People travelling from India even with PCR tests are still going through quarantine. We are also considering other restrictions in regards to other countries were situation is worsening.

End of the interview.

Some typoes and mistakes

Biggest one stamp=strain throughout the thread.

Restorations = Restrictions (autocorrect)
Template= Temple (autocorrect)

Few other prepositions here and there.