ZAGREB, Dec 18, 2020 - Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ) director Krunoslav Capak said on Friday that Pfizer would dispatch the COVID vaccine to EU member states on December 26 and that Croatia was among the countries that would receive this symbolic quantity.

He added, however, that it was still unknown when Croatia would get the rest of the million doses it ordered.

Capak said the delivery was being discussed with Pfizer at EU level and that the company promised that the tranche for the last quarter of 2020 would be dispatched by the end of January.

We assume will know the quantity by the end of next week, he added.

7 m2 per person in churches on Dec 24, 25

Mass services with more than 25 people will be allowed on December 24 and 25, provided that each person has seven square metres at their disposal, which will ensure a 2.6-metre-distance between them,

Speaking at a press conference of the national COVID-19 response team, he said that before and after those two days the ban on more than 25 people gathering indoors and outdoors would remain in force.

The HZJZ will appeal to the Church and the clergy to make sure that believers comply with the restrictions. Outside churches, a maximum 25 people will be allowed to gather and the recommendation is that all services on Christmas Eve end by 10 p.m.

Asked why bars and restaurants were not allowed to work under the 7 m2 criterion per customer, Capak said the answer was "impossible."

"We keep telling you that, with the measures, we are trying to ban contacts, but without banning the activities which are necessary for economic, psychological, social and other reasons. This measure is tied to respecting believers' wishes and needs for spiritual peace and the need to celebrate this holiday."

Small quantity of COVID-19 vaccine to be delivered on Dec 26Infections have dropped 20% in one week

In the week of December 14-18, Croatia recorded 20% fewer infections than the week before, "for the first time in weeks," but it will take more time for this mild downward trends to be reflected in "the number of hospitalisations, persons on ventilators and deaths," said Capak.

Compared with other EU countries, Croatia continues to have one of the highest incidence rates, ranking third on December 17, after Luxembourg and Lithuania.

Health minister on travel restrictions, bonus for working with COVID patients

Health Minister Vili Beros said travel within the country was being restricted ahead of the upcoming holidays because of asymptomatic patients.

He also responded to complaints from medical staff that this month they did not get the promised salary bonus for working with COVID patients, saying they would get it with the salary for December.

He said some hospitals had calculated the salaries for November before receiving the notification on how to calculate the bonus. "Not one health worker who works with COVID patients will be left without their bonus."

December 16, 2020 - The latest on the COVID-19 vaccination plan in Croatia, as revealed by Krunoslav Capak of the Croatian Institute of Public Health.

Jutarnji List reports that although the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has announced that approval for the use of Pfizer and BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine could arrive by December 29, the German Bild reports that this could happen as early as December 23. On the other hand, the Germans say that in that case, vaccination in that country could start the day after Christmas, more precisely, on December 26. Given that the European Commission has announced in the vaccination plan that all EU countries, after the EMA has the last word, will receive the vaccine simultaneously, this would mean that Croatia could start with the first vaccinations on December 26 or 28.

Namely, BioNTech reported that the delivery of vaccines from the factory and the primary European distribution center of Pfizer's vaccine in Puurs, Belgium, can start as soon as the green light from the EMA and the EC arrives. The date by which the EMA could give the green light was indirectly confirmed at a press conference by German Health Minister Jens Spahn. He said the media reports, according to which the EMA should approve the vaccine on December 23, were correct, adding that this would happen through a regular rather than an urgent procedure, "because we want citizens to gain confidence in the vaccine," he said.

"We have information that the Pfizer vaccine will arrive in Croatia on January 4. However, the company said earlier that, as soon as the EMA approval arrives, symbolic quantities of the vaccine could be delivered to all EU countries at the same time this year. The rest should arrive after the New Year," says the director of the CNIPH, Krunoslav Capak. He is convinced that if the EMA approves the vaccine on the 23rd, Croatia will receive the first quantities simultaneously as Germany and other EU countries.

It should be reminded that Croatia has ordered a million doses of Pfizer vaccine, but it will, as in other countries, arrive in smaller tranches. The first quantity for Croatia should be 125,000 doses and is intended for the vaccination of users and employees of nursing homes and health professionals. After that, those over 65 and chronic patients will be vaccinated with two doses, for which it will be necessary to organize vaccination sites well. The National Civil Protection Headquarters also announced a campaign to give citizens all the information they need about the benefits of vaccination and possible side effects.

According to some information, the start of the campaign is planned for December 21, while the current epidemiological measures will be in force, and it seems that they will not be eased. It is also possible that the measures will be tightened if, by the end of this week, the numbers of patients and hospitalized due to coronavirus do not show a more serious downward trend. The Headquarters and the Ministry of Health believe that this is optimal because most people will be at home, spending time watching television, listening to the radio, or reading online portals.

But what is still not clearly answered is the details of the vaccination plan. For healthcare facilities, this should not be a major problem, as many healthcare professionals are concentrated in one place and can vaccinate each other. However, nursing homes are increasingly a "bottleneck," in which more than 70 percent of users have given their consent to vaccination. The facts say that homes do not have enough health professionals who could use all open vaccine bottles in the short term.

These days, the survey of nursing home users and employees has been completed, so it is known at least approximately how many doses are needed. So far, about 24,000 residents and employees have expressed this interest, which means that 48,000 doses should be provided for them within 21 days, which is the interval between two doses of the vaccine. If vaccination in Croatia starts on December 28, those vaccinated on that day will acquire full immunity on January 24 next year. By the end of the week, it should be known how much interest health professionals have in vaccination.

Initial figures suggest it could be about half of public sector employees, or about 30,000. This means that 60,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine should be provided for them. According to that calculation, after the vaccination of those from the first planned group of 125,000 received doses, there would be about 15,000 left from the first delivery of the vaccine, i.e., enough to vaccinate another 5,000 at-risk citizens.

However, there could be many more problems when the next shipment of Pfizer vaccines arrives, i.e., when the vaccination of the general population over the age of 65, who live in their apartments and houses, begins, because they will certainly need more doctors and nurses to implement them than usual in the flu vaccination season. There is still doubt as to whether vaccinations should be given exclusively to family physicians, as suggested by epidemiologist Dr. Bernard Kaić, or whether the number of "vaccinators" should be extended, for example, to pharmacists, about which there are also suggestions.

To read more about coronavirus in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

ZAGREB, November 25, 2020 - President Zoran Milanovic said on Tuesday that the he was in favour of vaccinating the whole population against COVID-19, and that he counted on principles of public mindedness in that regard.

Before the ceremony of opening an exhibition in Zagreb's Museum of Arts and Crafts, Milanovic was asked by reporters to comment on the efficiency of vaccines that are currently being developed against COVID-19.

In response to media reports on that topic, Milanovic said that he trusted the results published after the trials of anti-COVID vaccines in world laboratories.

"I trust that. I get vaccinated when it is necessary, my children get vaccinated," Milanovic said adding that no one should circumvent that.

"In my mind, everyone should get vaccinated, and I count on public mindedness," the president said underscoring that vaccinations have saved millions of lives in the last 70 years.

He said that he did not know the government's position on the issue.

The government is going to procure nearly three million jabs. Whether the vaccination will be mandatory, this is a very serious topic, Milanovic said.

He said that he had raised this issue at Monday's session of the National Security Council (VNS).

Commenting on that VNS session, Milanovic said that it "was o.k." considering his premonitions.

Asked whether the relations between him and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic were mended, the president said that one should not look at that personally.

As for the national COVID-19 crisis management team, Milanovic said that the body "gets legally rather curved" , however, he underscored, that he had not criticised any of the measures adopted by that body. The president added that he had criticised the situation in which this level of measures had been adopted without "a green light" that is approval from the parliament.

ZAGREB, Nov 11, 2020 - The European Commission approved a contract with German pharmaceutical firm BioNTech and its US partner Pfizer on Wednesday, guaranteeing that the EU would receive 200 million doses of their experimental coronavirus vaccine and an additional 100 million dozes upon its verification.

Pfizer & BioNTech Group reported on Monday that their experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective based on initial trial results.

This prompted EC President  Ursula von der Leyen to tweet on Monday afternoon that the Commission would soon sign a contract with the Pfizer and BioNTech pharmaceutical groups for the procurement of 300 million doses of vaccine against Covid-19.

Following news that a COVID-19 vaccine would be available soon, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Monday evening that "Croatia will get a verified and certified coronavirus vaccine as soon as the EU gets it."

The agreement which the EC today signed with Pfizer & BioNTech Group is the fourth contract which the EC has signed on behalf of the European Union member states.

Von der Leyen was quoted as saying today: "In the wake of Monday's promising announcement by BioNTech and Pfizer on the prospects for their vaccine, I'm very happy to announce today's agreement with the European company BioNTech and Pfizer to purchase 300 million doses of the vaccine. With this fourth contract we are now consolidating an extremely solid vaccine candidate portfolio, most of them in the advanced trials phase. Once authorized, they will be quickly deployed and bring us closer to a sustainable solution of the pandemic."

Capak: COVID-19 vaccines booked for more than half of Croatia's population

"Croatia is making serious preparations for inoculating the population against coronavirus, and we have booked the doses of vaccines for more than 50% of our population," the head of the Croatian Institute of Public Health (HZJZ), Krunoslav Capak, said on Wednesday.

He added that Croatia had previously concluded an agreement with AstraZeneca for 2.7 million doses.

Capak said he expected the first supplies to be delivered in the first quarter of 2021.

Croatia has also ordered 900,000 doses from Johnson&Johnson and concluded a contract with Pfizer for their vaccine.

"We have ordered a million doses, however, we do not know how the EU will distribute vaccines and how many doses will be given to us," Capak told a news conference in Zagreb on Wednesday.

Vaccination against COVID-19 will be voluntary, and administering doses to vulnerable groups of citizens and to strategic groups of citizens will be free of charge, he said

Citizens aged above 65, patients with underlying conditions, medical professionals and workers in the welfare sector will have a priority in the inoculation schedule.

Over the past 24 hours, Croatia has registered 2,597 new cases of coronavirus infection and 28 related deaths, the national COVID-19 response team said on Wednesday.

The number of active cases in Croatia stands at 15,513, there are 1,545 COVID patients in hospitals, and 178 of them are on ventilators.

Since February 25, when Croatia registered its first coronavirus infection, a total of 72,840 people have contracted the novel coronavirus, 893 of them have died, and 56,434 have recovered, including 1,580 in the last 24 hours.

There are currently 32,225 people in self-isolation.

To date, 582,170 people have been tested for coronavirus, including 9,681 in the last 24 hours.

 Capak said that currently, the number of new cases was rising at a weekly rate of four or five percent, after a jump of 80% to 110% on the week.

The percentage of coronavirus tests that have returned positive is 28%. The incidence rate per 100,000 inhabitants is 772 over 14 days, which places Croatia among EU countries with the highest incidence rates.

The mortality rate per million inhabitants is 208, which puts Croatia in the middle of the EU ranking.