August the 3rd, 2021 - Croatian pharmacies would like to step in and ramp up the vaccination process, aiding all those who haven't yet managed to get to a mass vaccination point in getting their first and second doses, but there is of course, in typical Croatian fashion, an issue.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, numerous Croatian residents have readily taken the opportunity to get their digital COVID-certificates issued in Croatian pharmacies, but imagine how much better things might be if you could go there for vaccination, too?
To obtain a digital COVID certificate, you just need to show either your health insurance card or your identity card, on the basis of which the pharmacist enters you into the database of the Ministry of Health by entering your OIB and issuing you with your certificate. People can get it printed out in paper form if they so wish, or the pharmacist can send it to their e-mail address.
According to Ana Soldo, President of the Croatian Chamber of Pharmacists, despite the initial crowding, the issuance of COVID certificates went mostly smoothly, and people rarely waited for more than a few minutes to receive them. There were technical problems in some Croatian pharmacies, which is expected, and they were effectively eliminated.
It took a lot of time for pharmacists to be able to issue these certificates, but the Chamber expects that such a situation will not last long, reports Novi list.
''It has now become available to people, so people did start going to Croatian pharmacies to get them issued. I believe that then the interest will slowly subside,'' Soldo said.
Regarding the start of vaccination in Croatian pharmacies, which is expected in a few weeks, the pharmacy chamber says that there will be no more mass vaccination rollouts, but the vaccines will be introduced only where there's a need for them.
Coronavirus vaccination will not be performed by the pharmacists themselves, but by doctors who will visit various Croatian pharmacies in mobile teams.
''There aren't many doctors with the time to come out and do this, so this will take place only in those Croatian pharmacies in areas where there are no vaccination points, so that it will make it easier for people to come and get vaccinated. We're going to try to solve this problem by the end of the year by vaccinating people in Croatian pharmacies on our own, without a doctor coming to do it. All countries that have such a model also have much better vaccination coverage,'' added Soldo.
As an example, she pointed out the fantastic results of the United Kingdom, where people are regularly vaccinated by pharmacists, and the vaccination level against influenza in elderly people and those with chronic illnesses is higher than 70 percent, while in Croatia, it is rather shamefully under 20 percent.
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