(Read full article on civil.ge)

President Salome Zurabishvili has called on the government to “take urgent and strict measures” to bolster Georgia’s COVID-19 vaccination drive, including compulsory immunization for risk groups.

In a late evening press briefing on November 3, she also advocated for introducing “COVID passports” for entering public spaces and charging unvaccinated people for receiving COVID-19 treatment.

Assessing the COVID-19 epidemiological situation as “catastrophic,” the President laid the responsibility on Georgian officials, including herself, “who have the duty to conduct a more active campaign for vaccination and to have more courage.”

She also scolded political parties for holding rallies “despite regulations and precautions,” without elaborating further.

President Zurabishvili also criticized the Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate, which refrains from giving blessings to the parish to vaccinate, and “allows individual clergy members to preach anti-vaccine propaganda.”