Skopje, 27 August 2021 (MIA) – 17,020 people tested positive for COVID-19 in North Macedonia in the period August 6-26. Of them, 2,924 or 17% were fully vaccinated, shows Ministry of Health’s latest analysis. The Ministry said in a press release on Friday that the number of unvaccinated citizens who get infected with the coronavirus for the first or second time is rapidly rising. “In the past three weeks, 14,096 people, i.e. 83% of those who tested positive for COVID-19 were not vaccinated. 89% of hospitalizations are also unvaccinated,” the press release read. The analysis shows that fatality rate among the unvaccinated is drastically higher. In the past three weeks, the country recorded 276 fatalities. Of those, 246 patients weren’t vaccinated and only 30 people (10%) received a vaccine. The fatalities had pre-existing conditions. “Those who got infected and the patients who died were vaccinated with vaccines available in the country as well as the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson shots as some of the patients were vaccinated abroad,” the release underlined. The Health Ministry added that a rapid growth of COVID-19 re-infections was registered in the period August 15-22. “According to the Public Health Institute, 54 people got re-infected with the coronavirus over the course of a week. Since the onset of the pandemic through 22 August 2021, 351 citizens got re-infected. All vaccines the country offers are safe, they reduce the chance of infection, prevent severe symptoms and prevents death. We plead with the citizens to get vaccinated as it is the only way to acquire collective immunity and to prevent the spread of Sars-Cov-2 mutations,” stressed the Ministry. In the analysis, fully vaccinated people are considered those who received the second dose at least 14 days ago.