At its last briefing on Februay 4, the National Operational Headquarters reported that Covid-19 morbidity was rising again and the situation was likely to worsen in the coming weeks. In Bulgaria, eight districts are in the so-called red zone with over 100 patients per 100 thousand people. The largest rise has been marked in the districts of Kyustendil and Sofia. Figures show rising Covid-19 morbidity caused by the winter period and the rapid spread of influenza viruses, the complicated situation worldwide, as well as the lack of collective effect of Covid-19 vaccination, which has recently started.

Europe is expecting a third wave of the spread of the infection and is reporting a serious problem with delayed vaccine imports. Since the beginning of the campaign for mass immunization against Covid -19, which started on December 27, 2020, Bulgaria remains last in terms of vaccination levels, which are 5 times lower than the EU average or 10 times lower than those in more developed countries. According to the latest data, the total number of vaccinated people in this country is just 54,025 and 17,096 people have received a second vaccine dose.

According to a representative poll conducted in late January, 28% of adult respondents said they would get vaccinated against Covid-19, while 43% would not get the vaccine. This, according to some analysts, was an alarming trend. They see the reason in the poor organization of the vaccination process and the lack of an information campaign. The poll also shows that Bulgarian citizens rely on media information and just 27% seek information from their family doctors. One out of 10 says that they are not informed about vaccines at all. Actually, GPs also cannot provide clarification on the process of immunization.

"We don't even know what the process itself will be like, whether we would be allowed to administer vaccines or this would be done by special teams," Dr. Svetlana Slavova says. “Currently we  are only making preliminary lists of those who want to get vaccinated."

Immunization should be done by GPs, said the secretary of the Bulgarian Medical Union in Varna, Dr. Svetlin Mitev. Doctors expect that 30% of Bulgarians will choose to be vaccinated. According to Dr. Mitev, everything will be clearer in March and at the end of February the electronic platform for joining the list of those willing to be vaccinated will start working and will reduce administrative burden of processing the documentation.

According to lawyer Maria Sharkova, the proactive side should not be the patient who seeks information, but the medical specialists and the authorities who should provide all information the patients want to know about the vaccines. She gave the example of Belgium, where the authorities contact the patient personally and answer their questions. "In this country, the authorities have not done their job well enough so far," Sharkova said.

"When it comes to choosing between different vaccines, it only makes sense once we have enough of all the vaccines. It is important for us to vaccinate as many people as possible, as every vaccination is a step towards our collective immunity.”

Compiled by: Gergana Mancheva

English: Alexander Markov