PRAGUE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th February, 2021) Paris will supply 100,000 doses of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine at the request of the Czech government by mid-March, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis told reporters on Thursday.
"Due to the tough coronavirus situation, we are trying to get additional vaccines from different sources. We managed to get them in Israel, which granted us with 5 thousand Moderna vaccine [doses]. Now France has promised to provide us with 100 thousand Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine [doses] by March 15," Babis said.
The country began its vaccination campaign in late December 2020 and joined other European nations in dismay over cuts in shipments of the EU-approved vaccines declared by manufacturers due to production issues. However, the Czech leadership said that it would consider the use of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine only if it is authorized by the European medicines regulator.
Since October 5, 2020, the national government introduced an emergency regime over the pandemic, which entails closures of public facilities except for essential stores and pharmacies. Besides, the Czech Cabinet is set to convince the country's Parliament to allow the extension of the emergency regime until April, a measure requested by the regional authorities.
Additionally, due to the surge in infections of UK coronavirus variant in the country, the health authorities have obliged citizens to use respirators, nanomasks, or two medical masks at once in public places starting Thursday.
Later today, the government will discuss the options to toughen coronavirus measures in light of the current epidemiological situation.
