Caretaker Health Minister: Summer is the most appropriate time to make a national effort and get vaccinated

Summer is the most appropriate time to make a national effort to get out of this pandemic situation and it comes down to something simple and proven – large number of people to get vaccinated, the caretaker Minister of Health Dr. Stoycho Katsarov said on July 2 at a meeting with representatives of the Public Council. The aim is to raise public awareness of the benefits of vaccines.

"The number of deaths linked to the pandemic is horrific. In the past 30 years, the average life expectancy in Bulgaria has increased by almost 5 years, but during last year, it actually decreased by a year and a half," said caretaker Minister Katsarov at the beginning of the meeting.

According to him, the calm we enjoy during the summer months is deceptive, because the epidemic is not under our control and we are not insured against a new wave - we cannot even predict when this wave will come, in the summer or in the autumn.

According to him, there is no need to force people to get vaccinated, but this is an act that affects other people.

"It is only partially true, however, that this is a personal and voluntary act, because it affects many other people. This is not just about your personal health, you are responsible not only for yourself, you are responsible for many other people. So, it is nit just a personal act. It is something that can be defined as a national cause and as a national effort. And in this sense, the contribution of each person is important," said Minister Katsarov.

Epidemiologist Prof. Mira Kozhuharova said that they rely a lot on the public and now it is time to make a decision as a society, not from a medical point of view, but as a society, we can solve some of the problems facing us.

"All the latest research, recent publications, instructions we receive from the European Centre for Disease Control show that people who have received two doses of the vaccine against Covid-19 are protected from the currently spreading new variant of the virus in Europe," added Prof. Kozhuharova.

Prof. Krassimir Gigov said that the Vaccination Headquarters has fulfilled its activity in terms of receiving, distributing, organizing vaccinations, but obviously a ceiling of the implementation is reached.

"Currently, there are about 1,700,000 people vaccinated, which is very small and new ways must be sought to reach the public. Apart from vaccination, there is no other means at the moment to prevent a pandemic," he said.

Zahari Atanasov, a member of the board of the National Network of Health Mediators, explained that there is a lot of opposition to COVID vaccines. According to him, there is aggression against health mediators, and in certain places they are attacked because of conspiracy theories about vaccines.

"We have a very big battle, but I can assure you that we are people who are dedicated to our profession. And for us it is really a mission to make people informed, to make people somehow realize that this is the way and I can to assure you that we will do everything we can, "Atanasov said.