Cyprus vaccinations reach 116,000 people

Cyprus’ inoculation programme has picked up speed as vaccine deliveries in March have increased, with authorities vaccinating 10% of the population.

The health authorities said on Friday that they are pushing ahead with the COVID-19 vaccination rollout that has so far reached 116,331 people, of whom 31,968 have already received a second jab.

Meanwhile, vaccinating high-risk people is also expected to pick up over the next few days, aiming for at least 30,000 people receiving their first jab before the end of the month.

According to a Health Ministry update, some 1,489 people in vulnerable health groups and a further 170 bedridden people have also been vaccinated.

Currently, the vaccination programme has worked its way down to people aged 67 and above as the health ministry announced that another 22,808 inoculation slots for this age group would go online from next Tuesday. Some 15,000 appointments were grabbed within just three hours of the first slots for the over 67s.

Earlier this week, the health ministry also noted that Cyprus had met the EU target of vaccinating at least 80% of health professionals by March, in line with European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) guidelines, while also achieving the target of vaccinating people aged over 75.

Cyprus is relying on the first three EU-approved vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca-Oxford, with authorities having pre-ordered 4 million doses of vaccines, corresponding to 2 million people – twice its population.

Throughout this month, Cyprus should receive more than 164,000 vaccines, 64% more than the previous month.

The health service will receive 107,000 vaccines from AstraZeneca, up from 69,000, some 50,000 from Pfizer, from the planned 28,000 and 7,500 more from Moderna.

The aim is to vaccinate 200,000 people by the end of the month and a 60% of the entire population by June.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Thursday gave the single-dose Johnson & Johnson-developed ‘Janssen’ coronavirus vaccine the green light as the EU seeks to speed up a stuttering inoculation campaign with Cyprus ordering 200,000 doses.

After a thorough evaluation, EMA’s human medicines committee (CHMP) concluded by consensus that the data on the vaccine were robust and met the criteria for efficacy, safety, and quality.

The Janssen COVID-19 jab is the fourth to be endorsed for use in the EU after vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca-Oxford and Moderna.

Cyprus’ Health Ministry has an Advance Purchase Agreement through the EU for 200,000 doses of the drug, but there is no timeframe for delivery.

A source close to EU vaccine procedures told the Financial Mirror delivery of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine should not be expected before the summer.

The vaccine has been approved for use in the United States, Canada, and Bahrain, while South Africa is carrying out an expedited review.

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is the first to be approved as a single dose.

Janssen works by preparing the body to defend itself against Covid-19.

It is made up of another virus (an adenovirus) modified to contain the gene for making the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. This is a protein on the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which it needs to enter the body’s cells.

The adenovirus passes the SARS-CoV-2 gene into the vaccinated person’s cells. The cells can then use the gene to produce the spike protein.

A person’s immune system will recognise the spike protein as foreign and produce antibodies, and activate T cells (white blood cells) to target it.

Later, if the person comes into contact with the SARSCoV-2 virus, the immune system will recognise the spike protein on the virus and defend the body against it.

The adenovirus in the vaccine cannot reproduce and does not cause disease.

Compared to other vaccines boasting an efficacy of 90%+, Johnson & Johnson’ vaccine exhibits a lower efficacy.

The trial found a 67% reduction in the number of symptomatic Covid-19 cases after two weeks in people who received Covid-19 Vaccine Janssen (116 cases out of 19,630 people) compared with people given a placebo (348 of 19,691 people). It means that the vaccine had a 67% efficacy at two weeks. Similar efficacy was seen at four weeks.

Moderna vaccine

Meanwhile, a Ministry of Health official confirmed that Cyprus would not participate in a top-up order from Moderna.

Hungary’s premier Viktor Orbán’s chief of staff published the delivery schedule and two pages of the EU’s purchasing agreement with US vaccine producer Moderna after opposition parties blamed the government for not buying enough Western vaccines.

According to the document, 16 EU countries opted out of the vaccine top-up, including Cyprus.

“Cyprus did not opt-in, rather than opt-out. We took into consideration that delivery of the top-up order would be a long way down the road when we will have more than enough vaccines already in stock,” a Cypriot official told the Financial Mirror.

Cyprus epidemiological data worsened this week, as its Covid–19 cumulative notification rate increased by over 50% as Limassol spiked to 923.1 high from 641.2 per 100,000 inhabitants.

According to the Health Ministry’s latest weekly epidemiological report, the country’s overall 14-day cumulative diagnosis rate rose to 397.3 per 100,000 population from 263.5 in the previous report and 168.7 as of 26 February. The safety limit set by the EU is 150 per 100,000.

Cyprus has seen cases surge since relaxing a second national lockdown on 1 February, with cases going from under a hundred to 420 this week.

Hospital admissions also increased, according to the Health Ministry, due to the outbreak in Limassol.

Limassol is ranked in the danger zone with a 14-day cumulative COVID-19 case notification rate of more than 500 or more for every 100,000 inhabitants.

According to the report, between 24 February to 9 March, some 3,528 coronavirus cases were diagnosed from 39,725 PCR and 522,215 rapid antigen tests.

Limassol accounted for 2,292 of those cases, corresponding to 65% of all cases.

“There is a clear upward trend in indicators,” the Health Ministry said.

The weekly test positivity rate shows an increasing trend, with Limassol’s at over 1%.

In February, Cyprus’ positivity rate from rapid tests increased to 0.4% from 0.2%, and to 0.8 from 0.5% in Limassol.

By age group, cases included 717 infants, children and adolescents aged 0-19 (20.3%), 2,250 adults aged 20-59 (63.8%), 557 aged 60 years and older (15.8%).

The median age of all cases diagnosed in

all the last 14 days is 37 (IQR: 23-52years).

The majority of people who tested positive in the last 14 days (70.4%) reported at least one symptom, while the rest 1,044 people reported no symptoms at diagnosis.

Hospitalisations doubled in the last 10 days, with most patients coming from Limassol, said the Health Ministry.

“It is clear that hospitals are under strain, with a significant increase in the average of admissions and patients, while an increase in ICU admissions has started to show,” the ministry added.

Hospitalisation and intensive care unit admissions

In total, 5.3% (n = 1,933) of people with COVID-19 received hospital care, as of March 11.

The median age of patients still hospitalized on March 11t (n = 171, including those discharged on that day) is 65years (IQR: 54-73years), 59.1% (n = 101) are males, and 70.8% (n = 121) are from Limassol district.

The median age of ICU patients is 68, and 18 of them are men.

More than 70%, or 121 people currently hospitalised, are from Limassol.

On Friday, Andreas Kostis, head of Limassol General’s COVID ward, told the Cyprus News Agency that it had reached capacity, currently treating 190 patients with more admissions expected.

The number of elderly patients has decreased while more admissions of younger people are recorded “who are now seriously ill”, including a 23-year-old man, Kostis added.

Limassol district also amounted to the most deaths recorded in the last 14 days, as 83% of patients who died were from the district.