Ex-Minister of Public Health: Hasty Vaccination Would Do Disservice to Bulgarians

Rushing ahead with vaccination plans can do a disservice in the end result, warned former health minister Dr. Mimi Vitkova on BNR.

She pointed out that the way information is presented makes people think twice. The hasty approval of vaccine production left the impression that authorities were rushing not to save people's health, but to accumulate as big financial results as they can.

In Vitkova's words, professional communication is pushed to the background now and people are witnesses of the political communication mostly. She thinks that the many unknowns create confusion among people.

Vitkova said that people are eager to get convincing information to prompt them that the path to controlling the epidemic goes through immunization.

According to her, health authorities have to provide information on the type of vaccines, as the information is currently scarce and contradictory. In her words, geopolitics has hindered the organization of the fight against the epidemic and the immunization process.

According to Vitkova, the partial lockdown gives but a modest result.

The bad news is that with the political fear of upcoming elections and the imposition of unpopular measures, we will get a 2-in-1 negative result - poor health situation and bad economic result, because with such half-hearted restrictions we will be lagging behindfor a long time, she noted.

The former health minister was adamant that the measures should not be loosened until there was a sustainable decline in new cases and deaths. In her words, relaxing the measures too soon would be a bad joke.