Return to normality by summer, expert says

Restriction measures will be maintained even after vaccinations begin, as it won’t be until the summer until a safe percentage of the population is vaccinated, member of the government’s health advisory committee Dr Constantinos Tsioutis told the Cyprus News Agency on Wednesday.

Tsioutis said targeted measures will continue to be in place until the summer, but won’t remain in the current strict form.

The expert added that the island’s vaccination program was designed in order to first ensure that the most vulnerable and hospitals are protected first, before the rest of the population is vaccinated.

Tsioutis explained that the coronavirus vaccine will ensure immunity to the virus one month after vaccination.

He added that tens of thousands of volunteers have been vaccinated so far and currently hundreds of thousands of people in other countries have been vaccinated and nothing alarming has been reported.

He explained that any side effects from a vaccine appear in their vast majority in the first days after vaccination. 

Concluding, he added that "some isolated cases have been reported, which are to be expected, such as vaccine allergy, but their frequency is extremely low."