Coronavirus: personal doctors will be allowed to administer AZ jabs, no portal necessary

The health ministry said on Thursday anyone over 30 can receive the AstraZeneca vaccine from their personal doctor without going through the portal.

Those wanting any of the other shots, must still follow the portal route and rules for age groups, the ministry said, adding that the new guideline for AZ would help speed up the vaccination process.

Personal doctors will request the necessary quantity of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the health ministry and will be responsible to administer the jab to their patients.

Vaccinations by personal doctors will be performed in parallel with the operation of vaccination centres “with the aim to speed up the vaccination process” and achieve herd immunity faster, the ministry said.

The AstraZeneca vaccine was chosen for this method of delivery “due to storage and transport conditions,” the ministry added. The jab does not have the same special requirements as the others.

So far, 224,352 vaccination doses were administered in Cyprus, including 58,794 people who received both doses of the anti-coronavirus jab.

Cyprus administers the Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna and is expected to start administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in upcoming days, all authorised by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

AstraZeneca’s demand dropped this month after the European Medicines Agency found possible links to rare cases of blood clots with the jab.