“Now the vaccine is stored in a warehouse in special conditions, as it should be according to the instructions. We have prepared documents that will regulate the initiation of vaccination procedure. We will devote this week to preparatory activities, and practically next week will start a vaccination campaign, ” Minister said.

“This is the first batch of vaccine, the issue of supplying the next batch will be decided depending on how the first stage of vaccination goes,” Tsakhnakia said.

According to Minister, it will give good results in terms of reducing the incidence, if about 30 thousand people are vaccinated in Abkhazia, given that more than 14 thousand people have already been ill.

Tamaz Tsakhnakia also stressed that vaccination is voluntary.

Sputnik-V is a high-quality vaccine, its effectiveness has been proven. We will not put a person in strict frameworks. The interested person will be informed what kind of vaccine it is, what it is for, and what side effects may be. The vaccine is aimed at the production of antibodies, and even if a person gets sick, he will suffer a mild illness, he will not have complications. Especially when it comes to people who are at risk. These are adults who have comorbidities, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, which aggravate the course of coronavirus infection. Unfortunately, many of our patients died of thrombotic complications, despite all the therapy, ” Minister said.

If the patient has a sufficient amount of antibodies, then he does not need to be vaccinated.

Tamaz Tsakhnakia noted that 50 million rubles were allocated this year to combat Covid-19.

“Within the framework of the 2021 budget, there was approved a target program to combat coronavirus infection in the amount of 50 million rubles. These funds will be used to purchase medicines, medical supplies, reagents for laboratories, including PCR diagnostics, everything that is needed to combat Covid-19, ” Minister said.

Vaccination with "Sputnik - V" is carried out in two stages with an interval of 21 days. Re-vaccination is necessary to ensure development of long-term immunity.

“A person will have antibodies for about 3 months after one injection, a repeated vaccine is needed to consolidate the effect, so that the amount of antibodies is sufficient. Antibodies to COVID-19 form if a person people is vaccinated within 42 days, ” he said.

This vaccine is approved for people aged 18 and over.

A total of 6,500 doses of Sputnik-V were delivered to Abkhazia, the vaccine is two-component and is designed to inoculate 6,500 people.