March the 15th, 2021 - Croatian Health Minister Beros has spoken out about the EU vaccination rollout and the possibility of Croatia getting its hands on the Russian Sputnik vaccine without needing permission to do so from the EU. Theoretically, he says, it is possible.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the question of whether Croatia is already experiencing the third wave of the pandemic, what is going on with mass vaccination, a look at the country´s epidemiological measures and the tourist season were questions answered by Health Minister Vili Beros on HRT.
This week we record 28 percent more infections than we did last week...
¨On the 384th day since the beginning of the pandemic in Croatia, apart from the newly infected, today there are 855 patients who were hospitalised, which is as many as 50 more than yesterday, meaning that in the last 24 hours, 92 people were hospitalised. This indicates that the virus remains very much around us and that we all need to be careful and act together. It´s extremely important that we follow the basic measures because these are factors that can prevent the spread of infection. In the context of the upcoming tourist season, this is exactly what needs to be constantly mentioned. We´re all responsible for what will happen tomorrow,¨ Minister Beros said.
When asked if there will be another tightening up of the measures at the national level if this trend of an increasing number of patients continues, Minister Beros stated that the National Civil Protection Headquarters has been emphasising the role of county headquarters since back in autumn and is trying to encourage staff to think locally. An example of this, he says, is down in Dubrovnik-Neretva County, their headquarters concluded that something had to change there and he thanked them for that. He added that they will think more about local action depending on the epidemiological situation, than about horisontal measures that would apply to the whole of Croatia.
¨328 thousand doses of vaccine were used and 257 thousand citizens have been vaccinated. 56.7 percent of these doses were related to those in the second vaccination group, ie the elderly and the chronically ill. The Croatian healthcare system is able to vaccinate even more, but things are being limited by the quantities of vaccines coming into Croatia that are less than what was agreed on and expected. The Prime Minister and everyone else are making efforts to respond to these challenges as well,¨ Minister Beros said.
The AstraZeneca vaccine
Minister Beros emphasised the importance of scientific evaluation of everything related to vaccination. He said that approximately a thousand people are hospitalised annually in Croatia for various sorts of thrombosis or embolism. Another 2,200 due to pulmonary embolism, and a total of 3,200 of our fellow citizens, or 9 are hospitalised daily due to thrombo-embolic incidents. From that, he notes, a certain part of them does die and will continue to die. Therefore, given the number of vaccinated people, it is unfortunately to be expected that such deaths will continue. It is important that side effects are reported frequently so that more research can be carried out.
¨The WHO has announced recently that over 268 million people in the world have been vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine and that no significant deviations, incidents or deaths related to this vaccine have been found. This has been confirmed by our British colleagues who have extensive experience and a large number of vaccinated people,¨ the Minister added.
The Russian Sputnik vaccine and Croatia
¨We´re still oriented towards joint procurement through the European Commission (EC) and we believe that the circumstances will improve. Recent announcements by vaccine manufacturers that they will increase doses are in favour of this. However, if this is not the case, we will have to orient ourselves and organise ourselves towards some other manufacturers. Croatia has made contact with the Russian health authorities and some documentation has been received. Tomorrow we will start the evaluation process in HALMED. Whether this documentation is complete and how long the procedure will last, I cannot say at this moment in time,¨ said Minister Beros.
When asked what should happen for Croatia to start purchasing vaccines on its own, he answered that several factors are crucial:
¨This will depend on whether the EC will take our remarks into account in regard to the need for corrective mechanisms that will balance out the delivery of vaccines, furthermore, will the manufacturers, as announced, increase those deliveries, all these are elements that will play their role at some point. The task of this Government is to provide citizens with a safe, effective and quality vaccine. When we´re sure that a vaccine is like that, then we will open the doors to that vaccine, but not before.
It is theoretically possible to import the Russian vaccine through intervention imports. If necessary, I will personally support it because it will mean that European mechanisms have failed, which I believe will not happen,¨ concluded Minister Beros.
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