ZAGREB, 18 February 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Thursday that Croatia would have 700,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of March, including those delivered to date and those to be delivered this month and in March.
"That means we will significantly increase the number of those vaccinated," he said at a cabinet meeting, adding that vaccination in Croatia was intensifying.
He said it was not good that some county public health institutes were giving information that confused people older than 65. "All three vaccines are effective in the sense that there are no ventilators, hospitalisations, deaths, whether it's the Pfizer, Moderna or AstraZeneca vaccine."
Plenkovic reiterated that was the position of the Health Ministry, the Croatian Institute of Public Health, the World Health Organization and the European Medicines Agency. "It's important that the messages about the vaccines are consistent so that we don't make our fellow citizens suspicious of certain vaccines."
He reiterated that Croatia would request information from the Russians about their Sputnik V vaccine for the sake of people's safety and to make sure "that what is administered is reliable, verified and effective."
Plenković said the current number of new infections was 10% of the number registered on 10 December and that with the current average of 75 weekly infections per million population, Croatia ranked third in the EU, after Finland and Denmark, in terms of the lowest weekly average.
He said that if the situation remained like that, the government would further ease restrictions as of 1 March, "with or without encouragement" from county civil protection authorities.
Beroš: 210,870 doses have arrived in Croatia to date
To date 210,870 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have arrived in Croatia and 142,222 have been administered to 87,169 people, Health Minister Vili Beroš said at the cabinet meeting.
One shot has been given to 32,116 people and two shots to 55,053.
Beroš said the first stage of vaccination was nearing completion in most counties and that 20,895 doses had been given to older people and patients with chronic conditions as part of the second stage.
There have been 832 reports of suspected side effects, mainly mild and passing reactions.
Beroš announced that a system for the registration of people interested in being vaccinated would be operational as of 22 February. He said people would be able to register either with their family doctors, online or via a call centre.
The number of new infections is falling on the weekly level, the number of hospitalisations is also falling, the number of discharged patients is higher than the number of incoming patients, and the number of active cases has dropped by 1% in one week, the minister said.
Consequently, Zagreb's KB Dubrava hospital plans to further reduce the number of COVID beds and to return the medical staff temporarily assigned there to their hospitals, he added.
He recalled that an expert commission had been formed for the treatment of patients with post-COVID consequences, saying that it would write a report with all the relevant information for family and hospital doctors.
US visa waiver
Plenković also commented on the fact that the U.S. confirmed that Croatia had met one of the key visa waiver requirements. "We believe the procedures should be completed by summer so that 30 years after (Croatia's) recognition, our citizens will resolve the visa issue."
