Shortage of vaccines against meningococci in Bulgaria - yet, there Is increased demand

Vaccines against meningococci have become a rarity in Bulgaria. Despite the announcement from Regional Health Inspectorates that vaccinations would start for those interested, it quickly became apparent that the vaccine was unavailable in pharmacies and warehouses.

Currently, only one of the two available vaccines is being offered in the country. The other, effective against group B meningococci, is not imported into Bulgaria. This has left people, who wanted to vaccinate their children, in a difficult position. To get the vaccine, they need to pay around 100 leva, but the available stocks have already run out. According to the Ministry of Health, a new supply is expected in the coming days.

Since the beginning of the year, two deaths from the disease have been registered in Bulgaria – one of a baby and one of a 27-year-old young man. Currently, a two-month-old baby is being treated in Plovdiv, and a 13-year-old boy in the capital. The condition of both is improving.

There are two types of meningococcal vaccines approved for use in the European Union, but only one is imported into the country.

Assoc. Prof. Hristiana Batselova - epidemiologist:

"This is a conjugate polysaccharide vaccine and it is against meningococci of groups A, C, W, Y. The other vaccine - it is recombinant and it is against group B."

According to specialists, most meningococcal infections in Bulgaria are from group B, for which, it turns out, there is no vaccine available in the country.

Assoc. Prof. Angel Kunchev - Chief State Health Inspector:

"Very often there are attacks why it is not there. For any medicine, including vaccines, the step to be present in a market is to want to enter it. We can't force a company to import vaccines."

Chief state health inspector: The decision to receive meningococcal vaccine is a matter of personal judgment and choice

So Adriana, a mother of two, is trying to buy the vaccine from abroad.

Adriana Plachkova: "I checked in Greece. There’s a pharmacy near the border with Bulgaria. They used to supply this vaccine, but now they’ve tightened things up, and it can only be done with an electronic prescription. I checked in Turkey. I think it was priced at 200 BGN, but they refuse to ship the vaccine because they can’t guarantee cold chain transportation."

Adriana is also trying to find the other vaccine in the pharmacy network but has been unable to find any available doses in Ruse.

Adriana Plachkova:

"I rang two warehouses today. They told me that this vaccine is also missing, but they also said that it is ineffective for group B. Even if I bought it and administered it, my child would be protected against another type of meningitis, but not the one currently being reported in the ountry."

In Plovdiv and Burgas, many patients are also looking for the meningococcal vaccine.

Daniela Grunevska – Pharmacy Manager: "There is interest. A lot more interest compared to before. There is definitely interest."

"My daughter was on the brink of meningitis, and it was a nightmare. That was many years ago. That’s why I wouldn’t allow myself to go through this hell, myself or my children," says Velichka from Burgas.

According to health authorities, there is no cause for panic, as there are no identified outbreaks of the infection, and a meningococcal vaccine does not need to be administered to everyone.

Dr. Milena Panayotova - Directorate "Surveillance of Communicable Diseases" - RHI-Plovdiv:

Dr. Milena Panayotova – Director, "Infectious Disease Surveillance" – Regional Health Inspectorate-Plovdiv: "I don’t know why people should panic and assume that there is any danger to their health and start mass immunisation. The risk of transmission of the infection is not high. I would only recommend it to those who have contact with such patients or to children who are immunocompromised."

The condition of the two-month-old baby, who is being treated for meningococcal meningitis at the infectious disease clinic in Plovdiv, remains stable.