ZAGREB, 16 Dec 2021 - EU leaders on Thursday underlined the importance of vaccination in the fight against COVID-19, including a booster shot given the worrying Omicron variant.

The vaccination of all and receiving a booster shot is crucial and urgently necessary, according to European Council conclusions on the pandemic.

EU heads of state or government said it is crucial to overcome the suspiciousness about vaccination and to fight vaccine disinformation.

As to travel restrictions, the European Council called for coordinated efforts to respond to the situation based on available scientific evidence, and for imposing travel restrictions based on objective criteria, without undermining the single market or disproportionately disrupting free movement within the EU.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković told the press COVID certificates facilitated free movement this past summer and that this helped Croatia to record 90% of the numbers logged in the record tourism year 2019.

EU leaders called for the updated travel recommendations within the EU that the Commission published last month to be updated as soon as possible.

The Commission recommended a person-based approach, i.e. that a person with a valid digital COVID certificate should not be subjected to additional restrictions such as testing or quarantine.

Persons without a certificate could be required to get tested before or upon arrival.

The Commission also recommended that the certificates be valid nine months after the last vaccination.

For more, check out our dedicated politics section.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated section and select your preferred language if it isn't English.

November the 28th, 2021 - The Croatian Institute of Public Health has published a recommendation for the coronavirus booster dose in immunocompromised persons.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, according to these new recommendations, the coronavirus booster dose is especially recommended for sensitive groups (such as the elderly and the immunocompromised), but also for all people six months after receiving their primary vaccination(s).

“Taking into account the specifics of their health condition(s) as well as their family and work environments that may be important in making a decision on vaccination, for all persons aged 18 and over, at least 6 months must have passed after the completion of their primary vaccination, and then they can receive their coronavirus booster after speaking to their doctor.

People who have had COVID-19 and who have started and completed their primary vaccination after recovering from the illness don't need a third/booster dose.

The coronavirus booster vaccination is therefore available and recommended to everyone, and is ESPECIALLY important for the following categories of the population:

1) People living in care homes and adults with disabilities

2) Workers employed by care homes and who work with adults with disabilities

3) Healthcare professionals who directly care for patients at any level of healthcare

4) All persons aged 65 and over,

5) All persons aged 18 and over who share a household with immunocompromised and highly sensitive people

6) All persons aged 18 and over suffering from chronic diseases that increase the risk for more severe clinical picture of COVID-19 is contracted

Vaccination with the coronavirus booster dose is especially strongly recommended for immunocompromised individuals.

A total of 150,715 people across Croatia had been vaccinated with a coronavirus booster dose by the 24th of November, 2021.

The proposal for the organisation/improvement of the coronavirus booster vaccination rollout:

Improving the implementation of the coronavirus booster vaccine certainly requires all healthcare institutions and health care providers to, if they aren't doing so already, organise for the vaccination of their employees on the spot with an additional dose.

In addition, it's necessary to insist that all care homes, if they're not doing so already, to organise the vaccination of their employees and users on the spot with the third/additional dose in the same way as they organised vaccination in the first phase back in January and February 2021 (with the use of mobile teams).

It is also necessary to remind all GPs by letter that it is necessary for all adults for whom six months have passed since the end of their primary vaccination to be reminded by phone or e-mail (the latter requires almost no effort if a generic message is placed in the email inviting the person to come for vaccination) to come to get their coronavirus booster vaccine. Furthermore, family physicians should actively invite their insured persons for their third dose (by calling them by phone or e-mail for their booster dose).

To date, numerous mass vaccination points have been organised that are sometimes mobile. It is to be expected that these locations will adapt to the weather in this colder period of the year, so it's recommended that a person interested in receiving their coronavirus booster vaccination contact the competent public health institution in their county and seek information on the exact location of vaccination when it suits them.

For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and select your preferred language if it isn't English.