December 26 (BTA) - The first doses of vaccines against
COVID-19 arrived in Sofia on Saturday.

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine truck arrived at the
National Centre for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, escorted
by police cars. The vaccines were received by Health Minister
Kostadin Angelov, National Vaccination Headquarters Chairman
Krassimir Gigov and Sofia Regional Health Inspectorate Director
Dancho Penchev.

The first shipment contains 9,750 doses of vaccine, which will
be administered to over 4 thousand citizens. The vaccines will
be distributed to Sofia, Plovdiv and Bourgas. The next shipments
 of vaccines are expected in January and will deliver up to
62,000 doses.

''The number of those wishing to be vaccinated is increasing,
and I will be the first to be vaccinated,'' confirmed Minister
Angelov.

Nearly 45,000 are willing to be immunized, said Krassimir Gigov.
 The immunization will be carried out in medical establishments
and in regional health inspectorates.

It is very important that front line workers are the first to
receive the vaccine, said Minister Angelov. When a larger number
 of vaccines come, immunizations will be carried out to
different groups, with efforts focused mainly on homes for the
elderly, as they are an extremely serious risk group, Angelov
said.

Upon immunization, citizens will fill out an informed consent
form and a card will be issued stating the date of vaccination,
the batch number of the vaccine and the date of the second
vaccination. An information system has been prepared which will
allow the issuance of a document certifying that the person has
been vaccinated, added Minister Angelov.

Later in the day, part of the first shipment of vaccines arrived
 at the Regional Health Inspectorate in Plovdiv. RY/DT

/DT/