ZAGREB, 22 Oct 2021 - European Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides visited a COVID-19 vaccination point in Zagreb on Friday with Health Minister Vili Beroš, telling Croatian citizens to get vaccinated and listen to scientists' messages, not messages on social media.

Get vaccinated to protect yourselves, your fellow citizens and so that hospitals are not full of patients again. That's a very clear message, based on science and the reality we know. Listen to scientists, not experts on social media, Kyriakides said.

We are not in the same situation as in 2020. Today we have a safe and effective vaccine which was approved for use in the EU. We have enough vaccines, but we must go forward. We don't want to have a pandemic of the unvaccinated, she added.

Croatia has vaccinated about 55% of its adult population against coronavirus. It must accelerate it because in the EU we have more than 75% of the population fully vaccinated. That's why it's necessary to accelerate vaccination as much as possible so that we don't have areas in the EU that are still unprotected, she said.

Minister Beroš commented on a letter by five members of the government's Scientific Council who distanced themselves from statements made by Council member Gordan Lauc.

He said that when members of a scientific forum individually commented on "expertly established facts" on social media, contrary to the forum's clearly stated views, such commenting "is damaging."

Beroš added that he said yesterday all he had to say about Lauc and the Council and that, as far as he knew, most Council members wanted to continue to be part in it.

They don't intend to leave the Council as that would send a bad message of inconsistency, he added.

For more on politics, CLICK HERE.

ZAGREB, 22 Oct 2021 - European Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides and Croatian Health Minister Vili Beroš on Friday visited the Zagreb Children's Hospital's hematology and oncology institute.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Kyriakides, who recovered from it, wore a ribbon-shaped silver brooch.

According to the European Cancer Organisation, almost a million cancer cases have not been diagnosed because of the pandemic. Last year 2.7 million patients were diagnosed in the EU and 1.3 million have died, including more than 2,000 young ones.

Kyriakides said Europe's Beating Cancer Plan envisaged €4 billion for fighting cancer, including €1.25 billion from the EU4Health programme for prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment and improving the quality of life of people who have recovered from cancer.

Late last year Croatia adopted a national strategic framework against cancer. Oncology was included in the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.

For more news, CLICK HERE.