What Should Happen to Return Kazakhstan to Its Pre-Pandemic Way of Life?

According to Erlan Kiyasov, chief sanitary officer, Kazakhstanis may find themselves in a quarantine-free lifestyle if more than 50% of the entire population will obtain immunity to COVID-19. 

«If we are able to achieve herd immunity more than 50%, we will be able to get back to normal with no quarantine or lockdown,» Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency reported, citing Kiyasov. 

As the health official noted, Kazakhstan plans to vaccinate about six million people this year. 

«Our goal is to distribute six million doses until the end of this year. However, we will try to cover even more people, roughly 10 million. We want to do that because COVID-19 is an extremely dangerous infection,» he said.

The herd immunity to COVID-19 in Kazakhstan might be achieved in August – September of 2021, according to Marat Shoranov, vice-minister of health. 

On February 1 a massive vaccination campaign started in Kazakhstan. At the initial stage, the health system will use Russian-made Sputnik V.

In the middle of the month, they plan to use Kazakhstani-made Sputnik V. A pharmaceutical facility in Karaganda has already launched production of the vaccine.

In March medical officials want to add to the campaign another domestic vaccine named QazCovid-in.

The entire population of Kazakhstan is more than 18.8 million people.