June the 14th, 2021 - Marija Bubas, Krunoslav Capak's assistant at the Croatian Institute of Public Health, has spoken out about the current vaccination process and even discussed the controversial topic of rewarding vaccinated people and punishing those who refuse it.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Capak's assistant Marija Bubas was a recent guest on N1 televizija/television, during which she commented on fan zones where people can sit and watch the ongoing EURO 2020 matches en masse.

"I didn't hear anyone ask these people if they were vaccinated or not. I think this is a great opportunity to introduce covid-certificates or any other acceptable evidence for participation in an event. Among the unvaccinated population, we have those who cannot receive the vaccine because they're under the age of 12, those who cannot receive the vaccine for their own individual health reasons and those who don't want to be vaccinated. Although I don’t know what they're waiting for, as there are enough vaccines. We get vaccinated to protect our health first, but also the health of those who aren't vaccinated. These fan zones are proof that people are eager to socialise and live the way they remember before the pandemic struck. But they must be aware that one of the basic tools for this is the vaccine,'' said Marija Bubas.

Marija Bubas hopes that as soon as possible, covid-certificates will be introduced at events where a larger number of people gather together.

"Everyone who isn't vaccinated is a reservoir for the spread of this disease. If you're vaccinated, in some way you prevent the spread of the disease, and of course it's guaranteed that you will not have a more severe form of the disease if you manage to catch is, you're guaranteed life because a more severe form of the disease can often be followed by death,'' said Bubas.

She stressed that there are enough vaccines in Croatia, but that we cannot yet say that we're satisfied with the number of people vaccinated.

"There really are more than enough vaccines, over 2.6 million doses have arrived in Croatia, and over 2.1 million doses have been utilised, but still not enough for us to be satisfied. 42 percent of the adult population is now vaccinated. I think we should hurry up a bit with vaccinations in all age groups. The Pfizer vaccine is registered for age 12 plus. That would be my message to parents, teenagers from 16 to 18 are also eager for a normal summer, high school graduates are eager to pass their high school graduation and then take their entrance exams, instead of taking the entrance exam in autumn because then they probably won't have access to all of the universities they might want to attend. My message to them is to get vaccinated, and don't be in two minds about it,'' said Marija Bubas.

Has a country-level decision been made about the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine?

“I'd like to answer this question because I think it was miscommunicated all the time and led to fear among the population of AstraZeneca. It's the second most used vaccine in Croatia. Fortunately, people have recognised the value of vaccination, and I hope that AstraZeneca will continue to be used as an equally valuable vaccine as any other. We want to have a normal summer, we want to have tourists on the streets, in restaurants, we want to hold cultural events… Vaccination is a prerequisite for all this,'' answered Marija Bubas.

How can we speed up the vaccination rollout? Should Croatia reward those who get vaccinated or punish those who don't?

"No. I think we just have to raise security in public spaces to an even higher level, especially because of the spread of new variants/strains in our surroundings, which are present in low numbers in our country. We can raise this level by asking for a certificate of vaccination for people to be able to participate in certain things. For what we expect from the summer, from the season, for socialising, I think that the guarantee of safety is a certificate of vaccination,'' concluded Marija Bubas.

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March the 12th, 2021 - The AstraZeneca vaccine has been plagued with bad press almost from the very start, with bad reactions consisting of all sorts of symptoms being reported and some countries even putting a total stop to its use on their populations. How are things looking for the AstraZeneca vaccine in Croatia?

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Denmark has temporarily suspended vaccination with AstraZeneca following reports of cases of blood clots, one of which has been reported in the country, Danish authorities said on Thursday.

Marija Bubas, assistant director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health, told N1 that there are no plans to suspend the AstraZeneca vaccine in Croatia at the moment. She reiterated that this particular series of AstraZeneca vaccines has not yet arrived in Croatia.

"That situation is being investigated and is allegedly linked - we cannot confirm or deny such a thing. We will proceed how we will upon confirmation. We do not have that series of vaccines, and we have already used about 80 percent of the doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine we received, and everything happened without any consequences," said Marija Bubas. She added that in the case of a death in Croatia following the person having been vaccinated, it was later established that that unfortunate situation was in fact not related to vaccination.

"Such side effects are also possible with other vaccines, but they have been used for decades, so it is not talked about in such a bombastic way," said Bubas.

"When vaccination started with the Pfizer vaccine began, people reported side effects and people commented that Pfizer had many side effects, but back them, it was mostly only them - and there was no AstraZeneca," explained Bubas.

¨One-third of the people vaccinated with either one or two doses of AstraZeneca vaccine in Croatia had no side effects whatsoever,´ she added, emphasising again that there are no plans to put a stop to its use in the country in the fight against the novel coronavirus.

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February the 22nd, 2021 - Marija Bubas, Krunoslav Capak's deputy at the Croatian Institute for Public Health, has made an encouraging statement regarding Croatia's continued favourable trend in terms of the infection rate.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Marija Bubas recently spoke to Dnevnik N1 television about the vaccination of vulnerable groups, which has been being carried out by the CNIPH since Tuesday.

"The Croatian Institute for Public Health would organise the implementation of vaccination for patients who were referred by their GPs, but are not able to carry out vaccination for whatever reason. The Institute is therefore an aid in the implementation of the vaccination process, its role is significant, it was also important in Sisak-Moslavina County as an aid, but we must be present and not be precisely those who have the main say in it all,'' said Marija Bubas.

"Every dose thrown away is an enormous shame''

AstraZeneca and Pfizer will be the vaccines with which the Croatian population will be vaccinated against the novel coronavirus, and just many people will be vaccinated will depend on the response.

“We have significant capacities, doctors and other staff who can vaccinate the public. Every dose thrown away is a great pity because that dose actually belongs to someone. The idea is to achieve as much vaccination as possible in the shortest possible time, both in Croatia and across the whole world, so every discarded or damaged vaccine is wasted,'' explained Marija Bubas.

The manufacturer advised that the second dose of AstraZeneca needs to be given eight to twelve weeks after the first, but now there are indications that it is better to administer it closer to the twelfth week, she added.

"Then a better response to the first dose of vaccine is achieved, so we will be more strategically placed in that sense," she said.

"The easing of measures must be gradual and concession is being considered,'' she noted.

"The current situation is far more favourable than it was two months ago, there are fewer newly infected people, fewer people on respirators… But each step should be taken very gradually, we need to evaluate things to know where and when to stop and how to move forward. If there is a concession, it will be reevaluated after two to three weeks in order to start either a new concession or indeed further tightening,'' said Marija Bubas.

''If people want to enjoy the benefits of the easing of the anti-epidemic measures, then we're asking them to be responsible in their actions as much as is possible,'' she added.

"The director of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Europe also provided a description that describes the past year very well - pandemic fatigue, this also refers to the saturation of measures. It is understandable that people are growing tired with it all, but that is exactly why we're appealing to people to just wait a little bit longer and continue being patient,'' she said.

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February the 1st, 2021 - Marija Bubas from the Croatian Institute of Public Health was a recent guest of Dnevnik N1 television, during which she discussed the ongoing pandemic and the vaccination plan.

As Index writes, Marija Bubas talked about easing the current anti-epidemic measures and Croatia's vaccination process. Despite the better epidemiological situation, she is not yet in favour of easing measures. Croatia has now surpassed 5,000 deaths from coronavirus, and Marija Bubas believes that this only goes to show that the novel virus has some of the worst consequences attached to it, not just long-term health issues.

"Our measures are helping against the spread of coronavirus"

"Our rate per million inhabitants is about 1,200 cases and we're in 20th place. That rate is significant in our country. There are other countries that are worse off, there are better ones, and it's a question of other comorbidities. Over 90 percent of deaths were the result of various comorbidities they already had when they became infected and which helped to make their struggle for life difficult and end terribly as the virus ravaged them.

It's also a fact that says that we should beware of coronavirus infections, especially now, in circumstances when there is more and more talk about the spread of new strains of this virus. The measures that are still in force and have been extended until the 15th of February are helping to prevent the spread of coronavirus as well as its new strains. Our number of hospitalised people, deaths and people on respirators is dropping from week to week,'' said Marija Bubašs

When it comes to the vaccine: You should take what comes first...

She said that the situation with the vaccine wasn't what they had previously expected, but that's why the vaccination plan was changed.

"There will be enough for everyone even though the pharmaceutical industry has reduced its deliveries. The vaccination plan had to be changed to meet the two-dose vaccination, which is a guarantee of protection against infection. Let's not forget that we had an earthquake in Sisak-Moslavina County where doses had to be redirected in order to quickly vaccinate the population that ended up without anywhere to live and had to be in a place where the spread of the virus is made more possible.The spread didn't happen, the situation in that county didn't eventually become alarming, but a lot of people were vaccinated and we're satisfied with how we stand with that. It would've been better if we'd had the quantity of vaccine we'd expected,'' Marija Bubas added.

She pointed out that it was a fortunate circumstance that the AstraZeneca vaccine had been approved for use in the EU.

"We expect that more serious quantities of this vaccine will be delivered to Croatia in February. You should be vaccinated, so you should just receive the vaccine that comes first. A vaccination platform will be available for that, ie for ordering vaccination. When we see what quantities will arrive in the coming weeks, we'll make a plan. "

Bubas doesn't yet know when the platform will become available to citizens, but it is being "hurriedly worked on" and the hope is to launch it soon. She noted that new strains of the virus have not yet been discovered in Croatia, but she claims that new strains are present in the region.

"New strains exist in our neighbourhood. It hasn't been discovered in Croatia yet, but we're monitoring the situation. As these new strains spread, they show how great the mobility of the population is. Another good answer to stop the spread of new strains, prevent deaths and reduce the burden on the healthcare system is vaccination,'' she stressed. She believes that the measures shouldn't be relaxed even in mid-February and that a higher level of vaccination should be expected.

"I think we're going to have to wait for a higher level of vaccination to take place, but that's just an opinion. We have to look around, throughout Europe the measures are stricter in most countries, they're preparing for the penetration of new strains in some countries and there is no thought of relaxing anything. Although our situation is good, we must be careful with relaxations,'' stated Marija Bubas.

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