Mass vaccination to be possible in March at the earliest

Two million Bulgarians will be vaccinated against Covid-19 by the end of June with the three vaccines currently approved, Bogdan Kirilov, Executive Director of the Drug Agency, has told bTV. If more vaccines are added to the list, the number of vaccinated people will rise to 2.5 million. When we start receiving sufficient amounts of all vaccines, we will proceed to mass immunization, Bogdan Kirilov also said. According to him, this could happen in March or April. In February alone, we are expected to receive 400,000 doses of EU-approved vaccines, the head of the Drug Agency added. He said that it was yet to be decided whether the AstraZeneca vaccine would be administered to people over 65 years of age.

Covid-19 mutations could spark new wave of pandemic in late March

Another wave of Covid-19 is possible at the end of March, as new strains of the virus have started circulating, immunologist Prof. Mariana Murdzheva from the National VaccineTaskforcehas told Nova TV. There are currently three mutations of the coronavirus - British, South African and Brazilian. "These are genetic variants of the virus. I expect them to continue to exist and it is possible that others would emerge," Prof. Mariana Murdzheva said. According to her, one of the vaccines known to work against the British version is NovaVax, while the Janssen vaccine had some effectiveness against the South African mutation.

Total number of Bulgarians vaccinated against coronavirus has reached over 40,000

695 new cases of Covid-19 infection have been registered in the past 24 hours after 13,583 tests - 4,971 PCR and 8,612 antigen tests, according to data from the Single Information Portal. 5% of the samples were positive. The highest number of newly infected was in Sofia - 173, followed by Plovdiv - 52 and in Kyustendil and Burgas - 48 each. 1324 recovered, 35 people passed away and 2848 patients remain in hospital as 261 of them in intensive care wards. 26 medics were diagnosed with coronavirus in the past day and since the beginning of the pandemic their umber has reached 9,502. 3169 people were vaccinated yesterday and with them the total number has reached 40,805. The number of citizens who have already received their second dose of vaccine has reached 12,949.

Bulgarian teachers are not anti-vaxxers

"There is no anti-vaccine attitude among teachers," Minister of Education Krassimir Valchev has told BNT commenting on fact that only 24% of teachers wanted to be vaccinated against coronavirus. He added that teachers were a representative sample of the entire Bulgarian society. According to the Minister, the educational system was "generally functional", but the problem was that e-learning reduced students’ motivation to study and lowered the effectiveness of pedagogical interaction. Minister Valchev said that students in the first to the fourth grade have not studied less in comparison to the previous years. He added that most parents want their children to go back to school. According to him, there has been a slight rise in the number of Covid-19 cases this week, but the situation was still within the "favorable scenario".

Vaccination in Sofia’s nursing homes completed

197 people have been vaccinated against coronavirus in nursing homes in Sofia, the Sofia Municipality reported. Residents and employees of a total of seven social institutions have been vaccinated. People who do not want to be vaccinated at this stage can do so later. On Monday, vaccination of teachers and other employees in high schools and kindergartens starts.

Entry into Canada and France only with negative PCR test

Canada introduces a mandatory PCR test for people entering the country to stop the spread of new strains of Covid-19. In addition to the cost of the test, people will have to pay for a hotel, where they will be quarantined for three days while waiting for the result. The measure enters into force tomorrow. Starting next week, international flights will land at only four Canadian airports - Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Montreal. A negative PCR test will be required for entry into France for European Union citizens. The measure, which is already in force for sea and air transport, will be extended to land transport and starts tomorrow.

Compiled by: Diana Tsankova

English version: Alexander Markov

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