VELIKO TARNOVO, Bulgaria (AP) – Located outside the Veliko Tarnovo Public Hospital in northern Bulgaria, the head nurse of the vaccination unit expresses a sad reality about her fellow citizens: “They do not believe in vaccines “.
Bulgaria has one of the highest coronavirus mortality rates in the European Union of 27 countries and is facing a further rapid rise in infections due to the most infectious delta variant. Despite this, the people of this Balkan nation are the most hesitant of the bloc to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Only 20% of adults in Bulgaria, which has a population of 7 million, has so far been completely vaccinated. This is the last place in the EU, which has an average of 69 % fully vaccinated.
“We are open every day,” Yordanka Minekova, the leading vaccination nurse who has worked at the hospital for 35 years, told The Associated Press. “But the people who want to get vaccinated are very few.”
Krasimira Nikolova, a 52-year-old restaurant worker, has chosen not to get vaccinated, saying she has doubts about the effectiveness of available vaccines.
“I don’t think vaccines work,” he told the AP. “Hospitals are full of vaccinated people … I already had the virus. I don’t think it’s that dangerous. I have other health problems and if it was so dangerous, I would probably be dead. ”
But Sibila Marinova, manager of Veliko Tarnovo’s intensive care unit, says the 10 beds in her COVID-19 ICU room are busy and she feels angry that so many Bulgarians refuse to suffer.
“100% of ICU patients are not vaccinated,” he told the PA, adding that staff shortages only accumulate more pressure.
Bulgaria has access to the four EU-approved vaccines: Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. But since the beginning of the pandemic, more than 19,000 people in Bulgaria have died from COVID-19, the third highest mortality rate in the EU, behind only the Czech Republic and Hungary. In the last week, an average of 41 people have died every day.
Bulgaria’s big failed inoculation campaign now runs the risk of seriously subjecting a troubled healthcare system.
In response, the government on Tuesday imposed stricter restrictions. Restaurants and cafes must close at 23:00 and their tables are limited to six people. Nightclubs have been closed and cinemas and theaters are limited to half capacity. Outdoor sports spaces have a limited capacity of 30%.
“The low vaccination rate forces us to impose these measures,” said Health Minister Stoycho Katsarov.
Despite being in a vulnerable age group, 71-year-old Zhelyazko Marinov does not want to be vaccinated.
“I think I’m healthy enough and I have good natural immunity,” he said.
He gets most of his information about TV and Facebook vaccines, but said he could be convinced to get vaccinated.
“If I was deprived of some rights and freedoms, I would be vaccinated,” he said. “For example, if I can’t travel without a vaccine certificate.”
Mariya Sharkova, a specialist in public health law, believes Bulgaria’s worrying vaccine intake is the result of residents’ lack of confidence in official institutions, along with false news about the shootings, political instability and a weak campaign. national vaccination.
“In Bulgaria we don’t have a good health education,” he told the AP. “A lot of people choose to believe conspiracy theories and fake news.”
Only mandatory vaccines in Bulgaria, such as measles, mumps and rubella, are highly absorbed. Sharkova said some blame must lie with the government’s vaccination program.
“They didn’t build any strategy on how to combat vaccine vaccination,” he said. “We did not have any real information campaign about vaccines. The health ministry is mainly based on advertisements on the ministry’s website and I don’t think anyone will continue to read it. “
“The best policy for countries and populations as hesitant as ours is mandatory vaccinations,” said Sharkova, who is dismayed by the fact that national television channels often invite doctors with skeptical vaccinations to participate in their programs.
But making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory could risk further polarizing the problem, he said.
Hriska Zhelyazkova, a 67-year-old military officer from the coastal city of Burgas, says she is wary of vaccines because “they were created so quickly.”
“I think my body would be fine if I had the virus,” he said. “I have information from the internet and (and) read the opinions of virologists.”
Still, he said he could be vaccinated if authorities put tougher restrictions on unvaccinated people.
Back at Veliko Tarnovo Hospital, there are colorful vaccination drawings for children hanging on the walls. “You guys are our superheroes,” a headline read.
But Minekova, the vaccination nurse, is not optimistic about the future.
“Somehow, I think it’s too late,” he said. “It simply came to our notice then. At the moment I don’t see a way to solve this. “
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Valentina Petrova collaborated on this Burgas report.
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