September the 13th, 2022 - Vaccinations against the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, have begun being carried out in various locations across the country as autumn looms and covid in Croatia remains a topic on many lips.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, vaccination against the Omicron variant is being recommended for all persons aged 18 years and older who have completed their primary vaccinations against coronavirus. This means those who have already received two doses of the Comirnaty (Pfizer), Spikevax (Moderna) or Vaxzevria (AstraZeneca) vaccine, or one dose of the single-dose Janssen vaccine. Children aged 12 and over who have an increased risk of developing more severe clinical pictures should they contract the disease can also be vaccinated against Omicron, as reported by Ordinacija.

The adapted Omicron variant vaccine will also be used for a booster vaccinations, which is currently being recommended for people aged 60 and over and adults under 60 with an increased risk of developing severe clinical pictures should they become infected. Booster vaccinations are being carried out for persons who were primarily vaccinated and then vaccinated with another (booster) dose. People who have recovered from coronavirus and who have completed their primary vaccination or have received the first booster dose, can also receive a booster dose three months after their last vaccine or their recovery (depending on which occurred last).

The primary vaccination of all persons who haven't been vaccinated so far is also continuing as covid in Croatia is still very much a relevant matter. When it comes to primary vaccination, the adapted Omicron variant Spikevax and Comirnaty vaccines are not being used, but the original vaccines are. Vaccination is not being offered and will not be administered to anyone under the age of five.

Where are the vaccinations being carried out?

Vaccinations against coronavirus and against the Omicron variant are being carried out in public health institutes and health centres across the country at vaccination points.

You can find more specific information about vaccination procedures in individual counties and in the City of Zagreb on the websites of the public health institutes by clicking this link.

In most counties, vaccination will be possible without the need for prior registration (or a referral) by now, but in some counties and in the City of Zagreb, vaccinations will initially be carried out with the use of referrals in order to attempt to avoid crowds.

A GP's offices (this is especially recommended for people with chronic illnesses or other such vulnerabilities).

You can apply for vaccination:

By contacting your GP

Via this website (cijepise.zdravlje.hr)

Through the Health Portal

The adapted Omicron variant vaccine (Comirnaty Original/Omicron BA.1) has been manufactured by Pfizer and will be made available first, and in the coming days it is expected that additional vaccinations will be started with the adapted Omicron variant vaccine which has been manufactured by Moderna.

The vaccination recommendation depends on a person's age, their general state of health, previous vaccinations and their recovery from coronavirus. When the vaccination is being carried out, the doctor will advise you, among other things, on the specific type of vaccine that is optimal for you.

For more on covid in Croatia, make sure to check out our dedicated section.

September the 13th, 2022 - Croatian immunologist Zlatko Trobonjaca has warned of precautions we should take in the upcoming cooler weather as we enter the third autumn with the novel coronavirus, COVID-19.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, we're soon set to enter our third autumn spent with the spread of the novel coronavirus, but also with a new vaccine adapted against the highly infectious Omicron variant. As we've already written, vaccination with the new vaccine against the Omicron variant has now begun across the country. Croatian immunologist Zlatko Trobonjaca commented for HRT what could await us this autumn.

The new Omicron adapted vaccine is one of which covers the BA1 subvariant and the other variant called BA5. Croatian immunologist Zlatko Trobonjaca explained to HRT what kind of vaccine it is: "These are what are known as bivalent vaccines, which means they have antigens that protect us from two different strains of the Wuhan virus, as well as from the Omicron subvariant,'' he also added that this need arose because the immunity we acquired through vaccination or through recovery could now be waiting. At the same time, the Omicron variant itself has changed so much through its various mutations that the immunity we've acquired is now less effective.

You can find out more about the new Omicron adapted vaccine and how to get it by clicking here.

He added that the new Omicron adapted vaccine is being recommended for people over the age of 60 to 65, people who suffer from chronic diseases, and people who are undergoing special therapies, particularly those which could harm their immune system. "People who have generally weakened immunity should take an additional booster dose to strengthen it," he said, and then referred to the current epidemiological situation across the Republic of Croatia.

"We had a wave of infection that wasn't so intense in terms of the number of detected cases, but it's more than likely that the number of total undetected cases was higher than we think it was. That wave is now calming down, but in autumn we can expect an increase in the number of infections because children have returned to school and people are going back to work, and we'll also be spending more time indoors, he said.

He pointed out that he doesn't believe that the consequences of the epidemic will be as they were back during the Delta wave we once saw, because we have acquired a certain level of collective immunity.

"We'll have come into contact with multiple antigens on many occasions now, either through vaccination or by recovering from an active coronavirus infection, and I think that we have a level of immunity now that will protect us from more severe forms of the disease developing, and on the other hand,'' concluded Croatian immunologist Zlatko Trobonjaca.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated coronavirus section.

ZAGREB, 23 May 2022 - Croatia has recorded 37 new coronavirus cases and two COVID-related deaths in the past 24 hours, the national coronavirus response team said on Monday.

The number of active cases now stands at 2,619, including 263 persons who are hospitalized and of whom five are on ventilators.

Since the outbreak of the epidemic in Croatia on 25 February 2020, a total of 1,134,269 COVID cases have been registered and 15,968 people have died as a consequence.

A total of 1,184 people are self-isolating.

So far 4,859,993 people have been tested, including 896 in the past 24 hours.

By Sunday, 5,250,955 doses of a COVID vaccine had been administered, and 59.51 percent of the total population, or 70.78 percent of adults, had been vaccinated.

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.

ZAGREB, 16 May 2022 - Croatia has recorded 42 new coronavirus cases and 12 COVID-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the national COVID-19 response team reported on Monday morning.

The total number of active cases in the country currently stands at 3,429. A total of 364 infected persons are being treated in the hospital, of whom 15 are on ventilators, and 1,697 people are self-isolating.

Since 25 February 2020, when the first case was registered in the country, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been confirmed in 1,131, 492 persons and 15,942 of them have died. 

A total of 4,839,184 people have tested for the novel virus to date, including 1,033 in the last 24 hours.

By Sunday, 5,249,003 COVID-19 vaccine doses had been administered, and 59.51 percent of the total population, or 70.78 percent of adults, had been vaccinated.

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.

March 14, 2022 - The Zagreb Fair, which from the beginning was the main mass vaccination point in the Croatian capital, will no longer fulfill these functions, according to the "Dr. Andrija Štampar" Institute, which also announced new vaccination points and schedules.

The Institute of Public Health "Dr. Andrija Štampar'' informed on Monday that the point for mass vaccination at the Zagreb Fair will no longer be operational, and the working hours of vaccination places in health centers are also changing, reports Večernji List.

The Zagreb Fair, located on Dubrovnik Avenue in Novi Zagreb, was the main point of mass vaccination in the Croatian capital to this day.

According to the new working hours, the vaccination sites of the NZJZ "Dr. Andrija Štampar", without prior order, will be at two locations: Mirogojska cesta 16, Great Hall, will be open on Mondays and Fridays from 16 to 19 hours. While Avenija Većeslava Holjevca 22 at the Health Center Zagreb - Center, will be open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 2 to 6 p.m.

Vaccination is available, according to "Andrija Štampar", other days of the week in the Vaccination Clinic of the Epidemiology Service, Mirogojska cesta 16, with a mandatory pre-order by e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Vaccination points at the Health Center Zagreb - East (Sesvete, Ninska 16) and the Health Center Zagreb - West (Prečko 2a) will be open on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 2 pm to 6 pm. Vaccination is also possible at the vaccination point organized by HZJZ and ŠNZ Andrija Štampar (Rockefellerova 4), on Wednesdays from 4 pm to 8 pm.

Drive and testing at NZJZ “Dr. Andrija Štampar” (Mirogojska cesta 16) will be open from Saturday to Sunday, March 12, from 8 am to 11 am, with prior ordering via the platform.

For more information, visit the official website of the NZJZ Andrija Štampar.

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.

ZAGREB, 17 Feb 2022 - Croatia reported 6,359 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, out of 11,152 tests, and 47 related deaths, the national COVID-19 crisis management team said.

There are 31,059 active cases, including 1,933 hospitalised patients, of whom 132 are hooked to ventilators, while 15,772 persons are self-isolating.

Croatia has registered 1,032,033 coronavirus cases and 14,679 related deaths to date. So far, 985,845 recoveries have been registered, including 5,075 in the last 24 hours.

Also, 56.76% of the total population and 67.52% of adults have been vaccinated, including 65.29% of adults who are fully vaccinated.

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.

February 15, 2022 - It is reasonable to believe in a possible record summer season in 2022 due to the number of reservations. However, low vaccination rates, rising energy prices, and other factors may still interfere, warns Tomislav Fain, head of the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies.

All EU countries are still on the map of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) in dark red, but most of them with higher vaccination rates are expected to drop more over time than expected in Croatia. Our tourism workers hope that despite low vaccination, rising energy prices and other things, all previous efforts to invest in the season will not "melt", but due to many open questions they do not dare to predict whether we'll have a good start to this season, writes Slobodna Dalmacija.

Booking is better than for 2019, but there is no guarantee that part of these reservations will not be canceled.

''From the current perspective, the view of this year's tourist season seems quite optimistic, especially when it comes to peak season, July and August. Demand is high, reservations are constantly arriving, but we must be very careful because they are all made with the possibility of cancellation and no advance payment'', says Tomislav Fain, owner of the Zadar travel agency "Terra Travel" and president of the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies.

He reminds that the situation with COVID has greatly changed the previous way of doing business and everyone must be flexible, so reservations are accepted without payment.

''We had to adapt to this pandemic. We don’t know what could happen tomorrow, whether there will be an increase in contagion and some new measures again and we had to allow people to cancel their reservations. So we still have to be careful with optimistic announcements, but I say that if everything remains as it is now, there could be a record summer season'', Fain says.

The pre-season is filling up a bit less but he emphasizes that it is a good signal that most airlines left their flights at the beginning of April, which is an indicator that their seats are filling up.

''Our guests are accustomed to having enough capacity and there will probably be a lot of "last minute" reservations'', said the president of the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies.

Vaccination is holding us back

Along with COVID, the rattling of weapons on the border between Russia and Ukraine is not in favor of more frequent trips.

''At the moment, we do not know how the situation will unfold there by the summer or how and how much it can affect the arrivals. We, like everyone else, follow what is happening there'', Fain points out.

The interest of the population in vaccination in Croatia is miserable; those who wanted to get vaccinated did so a long time ago, and in the persuasion of those who do not want to do so, the announcement of the ECDC, which will include the parameters of vaccination of the population in the map of European countries, does not help.

''In terms of vaccination, we are the worst of all countries that are our strongest tourist competition. These are "landmines" that can reduce the possibility of a record summer season because even if we do not have a lot of infected people, data on poor vaccination can significantly affect the arrival of guests. If we stay in the red because of that, we will close the door to some markets for ourselves. It is enough for Germany to mark us as undesirable, and here we are in trouble'', concluded Fain.

For more on travel in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

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.

February 9, 2022 - The vaccination campaign across the country continues during omicron, as Prime Minister Andrej Plenković received booster dose today. Croatia is currently leading in terms of mortality per million inhabitants, and at the same time, is at the bottom of the EU in terms of vaccination.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković received booster dose of the vaccine, reports Telegram. With the publication of a photo of the moment when he received the dose, Plenković again called on the citizens to respond to the vaccination, especially in the middle of the wave of the omicron variant of the coronavirus.

“In addition to my previous recovery from COVID-19 and two doses of vaccine, I also received a booster dose today, in consultation with doctors. The additional dose is particularly important during omicron circumstances. Get vaccinated and use a booster to protect against more severe forms of COVID'', Plenković announced on Twitter. The Prime Minister received the second dose five months ago, on September 10, 2021.

Plenković calls for vaccination in the midst of the collapse of the vaccination campaign. It was announced today that the CNIPH is developing a new strategy because sufficient quantities of vaccines, mobile teams, and counseling centers have not yielded the desired results. Yesterday, only 613 people were vaccinated with the first dose in Croatia.

Croatia is currently leading in terms of mortality per million inhabitants, and at the same time, is at the bottom of the EU in terms of vaccination. The number of deaths in Croatia during the pandemic is 14,244, and in the first week of February alone, 367 people died. In January, 267 people died in the same period, which means that in the first seven days of this month, as many as 100 people died more than in the same period last month - and this can be attributed to poor vaccination.

In Croatia, only 56.5 percent of citizens were vaccinated with the first dose which, when it comes to COVID, is too little to reduce mortality. 54.3 percent of citizens were vaccinated with two doses, and 19.6 percent with the booster. Citizens' interest in vaccination is declining from month to month - yesterday only 613 people were vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine, and the day before, on Sunday, just 11 of them.

For more, check out our 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.

February the 5th, 2022 - Could the continuing low Croatian vaccination rate against the novel coronavirus have a negative effect on this summer's tourist season? As would-be visitors keep their eyes on what's going on in relation to the pandemic in a particular desired holiday destination, some believe so.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Council for the Recovery and Development of Tourism, which brings together representatives of the most important segments of this most important Croatian industry, has warns that Croatia is so far behind its typical Mediterranean competition in terms of vaccination that it could be well and truly beaten this summer having made a rod for its own back.

The new Croatian vaccination rate (an updated version of the situation) will be published on the new ECDC maps, not only the number of people infected with covid at any given time. It's worth noting that Croatia is currently a worrying dark red colour and is likely to stay that way until further notice, writes N1.

There are still tourists in Croatia and planning to come to Croatia, despite the situation caused by Omicron which is causing high numbers in terms of infection rates almost everywhere. In Opatija in Kvarner, they have claimed that they haven't had such a good January since the beginning of the century, and they are also busy arranging things for the summer months.

"Well, last year's results were certainly at a high level, which is fantastic. Of course, the situation will not be the same this year. We hope that the situation with the epidemic will calm down, so we're expecting some better results,'' pointed out Van Sarajlic, a local hotel manager.

It all depends on the virus, and our response to it.

"Foreign guests are monitoring the situation in the country. We constantly inform them about the situation, we work intensively with the tourism industry to keep hold of the stay safe in Croatia label, and hygiene and all other measures in our facilities are at the highest level because guests follow what's going on here, they know. That's why they came to us last year, so we have to attract them again this year,'' said Rena Persic Zivadinov, the director of the Kvarner Tourist Board.

That is why the High Council for the Recovery and Development of Tourism is sitting in the City of Zagreb. While Kvarner is an example with 75 percent of their resident adult population fully vaccinated, the rest of the country lags far behind.

That is why the Minister of Tourism and Sport, Nikolina Brnjac, has duly warned:

"We all know that Croatia's competing countries are making a come back. We also showed a presentation of the vaccination coverage across the Mediterranean, and it is much higher than it is in Croatia. Last year, we launched the priority vaccination of employees workin in the tourism sector which had an extremely good response, over 70 percent of employees came and got vaccinated. And this time, I'm calling on the entire tourism sector to remain responsible.''

The sector is generally concerned about the low Croatian vaccination rate, as everyone is doing better than Croatia is, across the rest of the Mediterranean, but also in the emitting markets, including the United States.

"I'm afraid that everything we did last year and all of the effort we put in will end up being worth next to nothing, I'm afraid that this year, with this situation we're in today, we're once again at point zero from which we have to start building everything back up from scratch,'' said the president of the Association of Hoteliers at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce, Josipa Jutt Ferlan.

Tomislav Fain, President of the Association of Croatian Travel Agencies, also noted:

"We all know what will happen to Croatian tourism if by any chance we remain dark red or red. If the German Government or the Austrian Hovernment only gives a suggestion to its citizens not to travel to such destinations, it would significantly affect our tourism, it would significantly affect the numbers we get, and the financial structure of everything.''

For more, check out our travel 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.

ZAGREB, 3 Feb 2022 - Health Minister Vili Beroš defended in parliament on Thursday the COVID certificate mandate and children testing as part of the fight against the pandemic and underlined the importance of vaccination because the tourist season could depend on it.

"One of the criteria the European Commission might consider for travel recommendations is the vaccination rate of the domestic population. If it is so, we'll have a problem and won't do well," Beroš told Emil Daus of the Istrian Democratic Party, who asked about plans for the summer tourist season.

Last year we were the champions of safety in the Mediterranean, but this summer the tourism situation might be bad and vaccination is the way out, Beroš said, adding that vaccines protect against serious illness and death also with the new variants.

Submitting a report on coronavirus protocols, he dismissed some MPs' claims that COVID certificates were pointless given that the vaccinated are contagious, too.

"COVID certificates don't represent absolute but optimal safety given what is being invested," Beroš said, adding that the vaccinated are far less contagious than the unvaccinated.

He said no EU member state had abolished the certificates and was not jumping to conclusions.

"Great Britain has abolished them, but it's not in the EU. Denmark is considering it but hasn't abolished them. Some countries with high vaccination rates are considering changing the application of COVID certificates, but are not abolishing them," the minister said, adding that the certificates are an instrument of the European Commission and that they enable travel.

As for the testing of children, Beroš said it was being introduced not only for health safety but to allow children to go to school. Testing is harmless and is being conducted in 16 European countries, he added.

Defending the justification of testing, the minister said that since it was introduced in the public sector, 1.6 million tests had been done and that 116,000 came back positive.

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.