Morawiecki said that Poland has signed the necessary agreements with companies such as Pfizer/BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Johnson&Johnson and has ordered 45 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine.
Morawiecki added that Poland is ready to sign further agreements and is awaiting a signal from the European Commission to do so. A logistics system for administering the vaccines is being currently prepared.
“The vaccines will be free, voluntary and double-dose, at least the majority of them will be,” he announced.
The head of the Polish government assured people that the vaccination process will be organized in a simple way: online registration, as well as application through traditional methods. People will need to register at a vaccination point. They will then be able to receive the first dose of the vaccine, followed by a second dose after 21 days.
Morawiecki encouraged citizens to behave responsibly and that even if someone is young and strong, they could protect someone elderly through a vaccination, as well as stop the spread of infection and even protect their parents.
“This is a matter of the greatest importance. There’s an outlook that this could happen as early as February, but we are awaiting the final decisions of the European Medicines Agency. The starting time depends on the agency, and we will be ready for it,” he said.
The PM also underlined that vaccines will not only allow for a return to normality from the point of view of our everyday lives but also a quicker return to the normal functioning of restaurants and tourism.
“The more people get vaccinated, the quicker they’ll be able to return to normality,” he noted.
Morawiecki said that the people to receive vaccines first will be all medical staff, nursing home residents, uniformed services and people aged 60 and above.
He assured people that the government wants the vaccines to be available in every municipality in Poland.
The PM explained that the total cost of the vaccines will be between EUR 1.12 to 2.24 billion, depending on how many additional vaccines Poland purchases.
The Chief of the PM’s Chancellery, Michał Dworczyk, stated that according to government estimates, between 6 to 7 million people will be vaccinated in the first round.
