ZAGREB, 29 Oct 2021 - Health Minister Vili Beroš said on Friday a decision was made under which family doctors would contact their patients over 65 in the next fortnight about getting vaccinated because 31.3% of people in that age group have not been vaccinated against COVID.

The most vulnerable persons, those over 65, are the priority in protection from COVID, he said at a press conference of the national COVID-19 crisis management team, adding that 40% of those over 80 have not been vaccinated either.

If doctors fail to contact their patients over 65 in the next fortnight, they should visit them at home, or have a district nurse do so, in the next 30 days, and then report to the ministry about what they have achieved. Those infirm should be vaccinated at home.

Beroš appealed to the elderly to get vaccinated. "Vaccination saves lives and it is our obligation to enable it."

He said 97 of the 177 persons over 65 who died of COVID this past week had not been vaccinated.

However, he said, interest in vaccination is growing and almost 6,000 of the 13,292 vaccinated yesterday received their first shot, the highest number since late July. Week on week it was an increase of 34.5%, and of 51.8% when compared with two weeks ago.

Croatian Institute of Public Health director Krunoslav Capak said there were 48.8% more new cases today than a week ago.

In the past 24 hours, 26 of the 32 COVID patients who ended up on ventilators and 20 of the 26 who died were not vaccinated.

The head of Zagreb's infectious diseases hospital, Alemka Markotić, told women who planned to get pregnant to get vaccinated or to do so after giving birth.

COVID certificates can't replace vaccination

Asked why COVID certificates were not required more widely, the head of the crisis management team, Interior Minister Davor Božinović, said the certificates offered a certain security but could not be a replacement for vaccination, adding that only vaccination could result in the pandemic abating.

"We are trying to do our best to have people vaccinated. We are thinking more and more about not limiting COVID certificates only to those vaccinated. We will also look at when they were vaccinated."

No one is considering another lockdown, but citizens must understand that this is a situation we will not get rid off anytime soon, Božinović said.

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ZAGREB, 16 July 2021 - Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Friday that Croatia had not yet achieved the target of sufficient number of people being vaccinated and warned of the spread of the Delta variant throughout Europe.

The prime minister once again called on everyone to get vaccinated while announcing that all those without healthcare cover could be vaccinated free.

"We have 46.8% vaccinated with one dose. We are gradually coming to 50%, while 39% of the total population have been double-jabbed. That is still not enough," said Plenković at the start of the cabinet meeting, warning of the fast spread of a much more contagious, Delta variant in Europe.

He underscored that vaccination protects against the most serious cases of illness and that those who are not vaccinated are more susceptible to contagion.

"For those who are not inoculated, one in 44 infected persons is likely to die," said Plenković, claiming that that remaining unvaccinated is an enormous and unnecessary risk.

Plenković once again called on citizens to get vaccinated, particularly elderly persons and those with chronic diseases, recalling that 8,233 people have died of COVID in Croatia and 92% of them were above 60.

He recalled that the government had done everything for the economy to not cave in during the coronavirus crisis, lay-offs, bankruptcies...

"This is a challenge and threat in which individual attitudes are insufficient. This is a situation in which we depend on each other and the more citizens are protected, the better," concluded Plenković and announced the possibility of free vaccination in Croatia for all citizens regardless of whether they have healthcare cover or not and which part of the world they come from.

"Croatian citizens can come to Croatia and get vaccinated free, and others can do so too. We have that many doses available and want to protect whoever wants to be protected," he said, adding that that was a contribution to global efforts to suppress COVID-19.

Health Minister Vili Beroš said that the government's decision to this effect enabled all people residing in Croatia, no matter what their citizenship is and whether they are covered by healthcare insurance or not, to get vaccinated free of charge.

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ZAGREB, 6 April, 2021 - The SSSH trade union federation has joined a global union drive to declare COVID-19 vaccines a common good on which private profit should not be made.

The appeal was signed by more than 110 unions, social movements and civil society organisations on the occasion of World Health Day, 7 April.

Huge public funds have been invested in developing the COVID-19 vaccine, so it is a political and moral obligation to ensure vaccination for all of the world population without discrimination on the grounds of income or nationality.

The serious health and economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic is destroying millions of jobs while making others precarious, which results in an increase in poverty and deprivation and economic and social inequality around the world. The global crisis requires and calls for saving lives and protecting jobs, reads the appeal.

The signatories call for mobilising workers around the globe on World Health Day and demand from governments and agencies to take action based on the "vaccine for all" criterion by guaranteeing universal and urgent access to vaccines for all people around the world.

They seek implementation of international law based on global justice, right to health and prevention of vaccine nationalism.

They also demand programmes and financial resources for the transfer of technologies and knowledge necessary to manufacture the vaccine in all regions and states as well as access to medicines, supplies, programmes and equipment necessary to treat COVID-19 patients.

The signatories to the appeal believe that financial support should be secured for all workers, farmers, family businesses and families who live and work in an informal economy and who have lost their income, in the form of minimum pay, and that a comprehensive emergency investment plan should be implemented for the recovery of millions of lost jobs and job preservation.

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