ZAGREB, 7 Dec, 2021 - After more than 2.2 million Croatians were vaccinated against COVID-19, the Croatian Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices (HALMED) on Tuesday confirmed the first vaccination-related fatality, a 33-year-old man who died after vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The causal relationship between vaccination and the side effects and fatal outcome was assessed as probable, and the man died of the thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, HALMED said.

So far no other cases of this side effect have been reported nor has any other reported fatal outcome been found to be related to vaccination.

The man in question died 12 days after vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine (Vaxzevria) and the report on the case was received in March 2021, after which extensive medical checks and analyses were conducted.

Based on reports filed with the European database of suspected adverse drug reactions, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) identified the said syndrome and established that it can occur very rarely if viral vector vaccines are applied.

EMA also determined that even though this very rare syndrome can occur, as can related risks from hospitalisation and fatal outcome, the overall benefit of the said vaccine in preventing COVID-19 by far outweighs the potential risks.

According to the latest information by EMA, by 14 October 2021, 624 reports of suspected thrombosis with thrombocytopenia were filed with the European database of suspected adverse drug reactions, and around 69 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were administered in the EU by 29 October 2021.

In Croatia, 562,938 doses of the Vaxzevria vaccine were administered by 6 December 2021, and 1,584 reports of suspected side effects were filed. Most or 81% of the side effects reported so far were not serious, were mild or moderate and lasted several days.

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ZAGREB, 20 May 2021 - As of today, every third adult in Croatia has been vaccinated against COVID-19, the Croatian Public Health Institute (HZJZ) said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, 19 May, 43,890 doses of the vaccine were used, and the number of persons that have received at least one dose reached 1,109,161, which is 27% of the population or 33% of the adult population, while 341,008 persons have received both doses.

According to data from the eCijepih platform, as of 20 May, every third adult in Croatia has been vaccinated, which is a big step forward compared to early May, when on 1 May every fifth adult citizen of Croatia had been vaccinated, the HZJZ said.

First dose vaccine coverage is highest in Zagreb, 31% of the total population or 37.6% of the adult population, and second dose vaccine coverage is highest in Sisak-Moslavina County, 12% of the population or 14.4% of adults.

"These are encouraging data that give us reason for optimism when it comes to meeting the goal of vaccinating over a half of Croatia's adult population by the end of June. Vaccination is going according to plan, the epidemiological situation is better than in previous weeks and this is certainly good news, especially in the context of the upcoming tourist season," said HZJZ deputy director Ivana Pavić Šimetin.

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ZAGREB, 14 May, 2021 - The head of the Zagreb-based Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Alemka Markotić,  said on Friday that the European Commission would in future be authorised for the purchase and distribution of the Pfizer vaccine and that Zagreb would be one of the centres included in producing DNA templates.

That means that only mRNA vaccines will be used in the EU, not because the AstraZeneca vaccine is not of a good quality but to ensure secure production and the possibility of responding quickly to new variants of the virus given that a vaccine can be produced within 100 days, said Markotić.

In addition to a high level of antibodies that remain for about six months, it is worthwhile developing cell immunity, which need not be the case with certain vaccines, she said.

"In 2022 and 2023, Zagreb will be one of the centres that will be included in the phase of producing DNA templates, which is important for Croatia's tradition and for Zagreb regarding the production of vaccines," she underscored.

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May the 10th, 2021 - Those of us who live in the City of Zagreb have obviously not been too fussed by the often less than positive reports about AstraZeneca side effects, be they exaggerated or not, as the Zagreb AstraZeneca doses are used up on residents.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, more of Zagreb's citizens were vaccinated with the AstraZeneca vaccine than with Pfizer according to the director of the Dr. Andrija Stampar Institute, Zvonimir Sostar, as Zagreb AstraZeneca vaccines dry up. At the level of the whole of the Republic of Croatia, things are the other way around. Although Croatia ordered far more AstraZeneca vaccines, much more money was spent on Pfizer. More than 600,000 doses of Pfizer were used, nearly 300,000 AstraZeneca vaccines were administered, with the rest being Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

A total of 1.1 million doses were used, of which the first dose was received by 617,000 people, with 250,000 receiving both doses. This means that in the whole of Croatia, only about five percent of the population has been immunised so far, and another 344,494 people have officially been recorded as having become unwell with the novel coronavirus, which is almost nine percent of the population, 24sata writes. There hasn't yet been any sort of officiall made study that says how many people have actually acquired immunity to the virus by contracting it and recovering, but that number is certainly higher than the official one would lead us to believe.

Larger quantities of vaccines should arrive in Croatia this week than were arriving before, and the government's plan is that at least 55 percent of the adult population will be vaccinated by the time summer rolls around. A new daily "record" of vaccination was set on Saturday - with more than 53,000 people getting the vaccine. According to Sostar, Zagreb itself has the capacity to vaccinate 11,000 people a day - at the Zagreb Fair (Zagrebacki Velesajam) and in three other similar halls, which will be opened over the coming days precisely for this purpose. Zagreb is home to almost 30 percent of the vaccinated population of the entire country, which is currently the highest in Croatia, Sostar added.

In the 70,000 AstraZeneca doses consumed, he said, there were no serious side effects reported. So far, 2982 reports of suspected side effects of various coronavirus vaccines have been received throughout Croatia, of which 1452 refer to Pfizer, 1292 refer to AstraZeneca, and 235 refer to Moderna. 19 percent of these reports were considered serious, but there have been no confirmed deaths due to any of the coronavirus vaccines currently in use.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of vaccination points and testing centres across the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and select your preferred language.