By Tsvetelia Tsolova and Stoyan Nenov
OGNEN, Bulgaria (Reuters) – When Veselin Mirchev, the mayor of a tiny village in southeastern Bulgaria, got a call to say that medics could come to vaccinate the villagers against COVID-19 he felt very relieved, and so did most of the elderly residents.
Bulgaria began sending out mobile vaccinations units last week to remoter rural locations, part of a drive to improve its inoculation record, the poorest in the European Union.
“If the team had not come, we probably would not have got vaccinated at all, because it is quite difficult in the cities, with all the waiting and the queuing,” said Mirchev, 61.
Raina Todorova, 83, said she hoped her AstraZeneca shot would allow her once again to see her family.
“Our children can now visit without being afraid… They have been saying ‘You are old people, how can we come and see you, what if we infect you’. They can calm down now,” she said.
But she and the 30 other villagers who got vaccinated in Ognen, a picturesque spot in the Thrace region, are among the lucky ones because on Thursday Bulgaria’s nationwide inoculation campaign stuttered to a halt due to a shortage of shots that is also being experienced elsewhere across the EU.
SHORTAGES AND DOUBTS
In a sharply worded letter, Bulgarian Health Minister Kostadin Angelov accused AstraZeneca of failing to stick to its delivery schedule vaccines and demanded the immediate shipment of at least 52,800 doses that the company has postponed to March 1.
AstraZeneca has told the EU it would cut vaccine deliveries to the 27-member bloc by 60% in the first three months of this year due to production problems. Under the EU scheme, Bulgaria ordered 4.5 million AstraZeneca doses over seven months.
The sudden halt is especially frustrating for Bulgaria, which has so far given a first dose to 190,000 people, or less than 2% of its adult population, but had begun to accelerate its campaign with ‘green corridors’, where anybody who wants a shot can get one, regardless of age or health condition.
Sofia has arranged 85,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine in March and expects new shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot. Bulgaria will also order doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine when it wins EU approval, said Angelov.
Vaccine shortages are not the only concern in Bulgaria, where a recent opinion poll suggests around half of the population do not plan to get inoculated at all, while some 37% are still hesitating.
In Ognen, too, some younger residents are wavering, said Mirchev the mayor.
“They still do not believe in the vaccines. They are probably reading different stories on the internet and that is holding them back,” he said.
John Cowell, 62, a retired British social worker who lives in the village, had no such reservations.
“We have had COVID in the village, and a number of friends we have in the village have had it… So the more the village is vaccinated, the more safe I feel,” he said.
(Writing by Tsvetelia Tsolova; Editing by Gareth Jones)
