Skopje, 16 August 2021 (MIA) – The Immunization Committee recommends that immune-compromised people should receive a third COVID-19 vaccine dose, according to recommendations of the US Centers for Diseases Control (CDC), Health Minister Venko Filipche announced Monday. The process is due to start this week, he added. Patients who have had transplants, those on chronic dialysis, and people with other immune deficiencies will get a third dose according to their diagnosis, the Minister explained. “The vaccine process is going smoothly after the announced measures, which is a good sign and I believe this trend will continue. Last week, there were days in which we achieved numbers of 8,000 people signing up for their first vaccine dose. We’ve administered around 50,000 vaccines last week,” Minister Filipche said. He said he expects the rapid tempo of immunization to continue in order to achieve herd immunity as soon as possible. “We’ve vaccinated around 35% of the population. The percentage of vaccinated people over 70 has jumped to 70% from 63%. Almost 50% of people over the age of 50 is vaccinates, which is a good sign for this category of citizens. We see that the cities that have vaccinated a great number of people, such as Ohrid, Bitola and Shtip, have no patients in their hospitals. Around 4,000 children up to the age of 18 have been vaccinated, with the most vaccines being distributed to 16- 17- and 18-year-olds,” Filipche said. The Minister stressed that vaccines are the only way to end the pandemic. “We can see what’s going on in the cities where the percentage of immunizations is low. It’s clear that the vaccines are safe. Out of 1 million doses administered, we haven’t had a single serious side effect. There has been an exceptionally low number of vaccinated people who have contracted coronavirus. The risk of death is reduced 20x. We are likely to face new variants in the future, and vaccination will be the only way for us to battle the pandemic,” Filipche said. Vaccination will be recommended to the people who are expected to arrive from Afghanistan, he concluded. dk/ba/