Cypriote Defence Minister Charalambos Petrides receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine, in Nicosia, Cyprus on April 15, 2021. Most members of Cyprus' government received AstraZeneca jabs on Thursday in a move aimed at restoring people's trust in the vaccine, after reports linked it to a number of blood clot incidents. (Photo by George Christophorou/Xinhua)
NICOSIA, April 15 (Xinhua) -- Most members of Cyprus' government received AstraZeneca jabs on Thursday in a move aimed at restoring people's trust in the vaccine, after reports linked it to a number of blood clot incidents.
All unvaccinated ministers, except Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides who is abroad, were accompanied by President Nicos Anastasiades to a vaccination center on the outskirts of the capital Nicosia to get the first dose of the vaccine.
Anastasiades himself was among the first to be vaccinated in December 2020.
Mistrust in the AstraZeneca vaccine has thrown the country's vaccination program into disarray as most people sought to get the other two licensed vaccines made by Pfizer and Moderna.
Anastasiades called on people to get vaccinated as soon as possible with any available vaccine.
"The presence of most ministers at the vaccination center is aimed at sending a strong message that what matters is the vaccination, not the vaccine," he said.
Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou said that within the next few days the number of those vaccinated will reach 200,000, about one-quarter of the population.
He added that herd immunity is expected to be achieved by the end of June, as tens of thousands of vaccine doses will arrive in regular intervals starting next week.
Cyprus has lifted almost all lockdown restrictions except a night curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. and a ban on restaurants and similar premises using their internal spaces to serve customers.
However, Health authorities said that they are alarmed by an increase in coronavirus infections over the past few days, which has led COVID-19 hospitals close to their capacity.
Authorities are also preparing to restart tourism as of May, provided that the United Kingdom, the biggest tourist market for Cyprus, will allow its vaccinated citizens to travel abroad. Enditem
