Poland plans 3.4 million monthly vaccinations

WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland should be able to administer 3.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine a month, the prime minister’s top aide said on Saturday, as the country’s health service gears up for what is likely to be its biggest logistical challenge ever.

The number of daily cases in emerging Europe’s largest economy has fallen after a surge in October and early November, but the number of deaths has remained stubbornly high, regularly exceeding 500.

“3.4 million vaccinations per month, 3.4 million doses of the vaccine can be administered in accordance with the applications that we received,” Michal Dworczyk told a news conference, adding that 8,319 vaccination teams had applied to take part in the programme.

Dworczyk had previously said there could be around 8,000 vaccination points in Poland.

Poland, a country of around 38 million people, had by Saturday reported close to 1.13 million COVID-19 cases and 22,676 deaths from the disease.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Alicja Ptak; Editing by Mark Potter)