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(Updates with ministry statement, details)
PRAGUE, Jan 27 (Reuters) - The Czech health ministry has
recommended regional health officials halt new COVID-19
vaccinations for the coming two weeks to prioritise second doses
due to concern about delivery delays, a ministry spokeswoman
said on Wednesday.
The Czech Republic, like other European countries, has
complained about cuts and delays in deliveries of vaccines made
by the United States' Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech
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The ministry spokeswoman said the decision was made in view
of the number of people requiring the second dose of the Pfizer
vaccine and the reduced supply. Regional coordinators remain
responsible for assessing the situation in their regions, she
said.
"The Health Ministry recommends interrupting first-dose
vaccinations and suspending reservations for such vaccinations
for 14 days," the spokeswoman said.
The country of 10.7 million has inoculated more than 222,000
people, and over 17,000 have already received a second dose,
health ministry data as of Tuesday showed.
The Czech Republic has recorded 956,155 cases of COVID-19
since the pandemic first hit in March.
It has been one of the worst-hit globally, with a high rate
of infections during the second wave, and 15,453 deaths so far,
straining hospitals.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Jason Hovet, editing by Louise
Heavens and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
