Exacta Poll finds sharp drop in Bulgarians wanting Covid-19 vaccination
Twenty-nine per cent of Bulgarians polled by the Exacta Research Group in February said that they definitely wanted to be vaccinated against Covid-19, down from 41 per cent in October, television station bTV reported on February 24.
Over the same period, those hesitant about getting the jab rose from 28 per cent to 41 per cent, the Exacta poll found.
The trend found by the Exacta poll is similar to that found by an Alpha Research poll, the findings of which were released on February 18, showing Bulgarians increasingly unwilling to get Covid-19 jabs.
The Exacta poll found that among those who were hesitant, nine per cent cited health problems such as allergies and malfunctioning immune systems. Fourteen per cent said that they did not know how effective the vaccines are and for how long they will be protected by them. Nineteen per cent wanted more information about possible side-effects.
The Exacta poll found that the largest groups among those wanting to be vaccinated were those with university education, resident in Sofia and over the age of 40.
Close to 30 per cent of Bulgarians polled said that they had no intention of getting vaccinated against Covid-19. These tended to be residents of small towns and villages, men, and people aged between 18 and 40.
Six per cent of those polled by Exacta said that they already had antibodies and therefore did not consider it necessary to be vaccinated, while 1.8 per cent said that they already had been vaccinated.
The poll was funded by Exacta Research Group and carried out between February 15 and 22 among 1005 adult Bulgarians in 90 cities, towns and villages in the country.
In other news related to the Covid-19 situation in Bulgaria on February 24:
The Ministry of Health issued a reminder, saying that it was doing so in response to numerous inquiries, that a certificate of vaccination may be issued only after a second dose has been administered.
The ministry said that those with a qualified electronic signature (QES) in their name can access their patient file at https://his.bg/. Users of the page, which is only in Bulgarian, should click on Аз и семейството ми and then the sub-menu Моето пациентско досие. After a successful login, the certificate may be printed from the имунизации section.
Those who do not have an electronic signature may request their certificate from their general practitioner or from the vaccination point where the vaccination was administered.
The vaccination certificate is in Bulgarian and English. The Health Ministry said that the certificate meets the requirements of the member states of the European Union, and via a QR code, is readable anywhere in the world.
A Bulgarian government media statement on February 24 said that the Cabinet had increased the state subsidy for the Bulgarian Red Cross by 500 000 leva (about 255 600 euro).
“Because in disasters, in accidents, and now in the pandemic, when and as it was necessary, the Red Cross intervened extremely quickly,” the statement quoted Prime Minister Boiko Borissov as saying.
The statement said that increasing the subsidy would enable the Bulgarian Red cross to carry out its activities amid the complicated epidemic situation.
(Photo: Bulgaria’s Military Medical Academy)
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