Gubad Ibadoghlu, Senior Analyst, Economic Research Center
As part of the European Union’s efforts to support vaccination in partner countries, this August the European Commission increased its assistance package from €40 million to €75 million to deploy safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines and speed up the vaccination campaigns in the Eastern Partnership countries. With this new €35 million assistance package, the EU seeks to substantially increase access to vaccines in the Eastern Partnership region amid the global vaccine shortage.
StrategEast has interviewed leading EaP experts to hear their thoughts on the EU’s role in vaccination process in their home countries. Here are the answers from Azerbaijan.
Do you believe this aid has a decisive role in ending the pandemic?
As of 27 August 2021, in Azerbaijan, the total number of vaccines used was 6,493,757, of which 3,929,404 were vaccinated with the first dose and 2,564,353 with two doses.Considering that the population over the age of 18 has been vaccinated, it can be said that 35% of the country’s population has already been vaccinated with both doses. But this is not enough to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the support of the European Union in this area is essential. But even with this support, it is impossible to stop the pandemic. For this, at least 70 percent of the population must be vaccinated. This is possible at best by the end of this year.
Do you think this move will speed up the socio-economic recovery of your country?
The Azerbaijani economy is making little progress out of recession, and it is beginning to recover. January-July 2021 compared to January-July 2020, GDP growth was 2.1 percent.
At this stage, it is crucial to protect the national economy from the harmful effects of the pandemic at the local, regional and global levels. Mass vaccination is also important to ensure that the economy does not go down. Therefore, the support of the European Union in this direction, not only to Azerbaijan but also to the countries of the region, members of the Eastern Partnership, should be commended because there are close trade, investment, and tourism cooperations between the member countries of the Eastern Partnership.
