Covid-19 in Bulgaria: Of those who died in past 14 days, close to 94% were unvaccinated
Of the 1237 people in Bulgaria who died of Covid-19 in the past 14 days, 1159 – about 93.69 per cent – had not completed the vaccination cycle, according to unified information portal statistics on October 18.
The age group with the largest number of Covid-19 dead in Bulgaria in the past 14 days is the 70-79 group, which accounted for 476 of the deaths. Of these deaths, 30, about 6.3 per cent, had been vaccinated. The statistical table describes these deaths as of Covid-19, without specifying whether or not they had concomitant diseases.
The age group with the next-largest number of Covid-19 deaths was the 80-89 age group, 280. Of these, 13, about 4.64 per cent, had completed the vaccination cycle.
In third place was the 60-69 age group, with 270 Covid-19 deaths, including 15 (5.56 per cent) who had completed the vaccination cycle.
Looking at the younger age groups in the table, in the past two weeks in Bulgaria, five people aged 20 to 29 and 17 people aged 30 to 39 died of Covid-19. None had completed the vaccination cycle.
There were two Covid-19 deaths in the 0-11 age group in Bulgaria in the past two weeks. Currently, Bulgaria permits vaccination against Covid-19 only from the age of 12 upwards. In the past two weeks, there has been one Covid-19 death in the 12-14 age group. The person had not been vaccinated.
Bulgaria’s health authorities repeatedly have emphasised the importance of vaccination against Covid-19. The vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency in use of Bulgaria provide a very high degree of protection against the virus. While the protection is not 100 per cent, vaccination makes it probable that anyone who does contract the virus will be at considerably less risk of death or experiencing the disease severely.
Bulgaria’s low vaccination rate has translated into a high Covid-19 death rate. According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), in the 14-day period up to October 18, the cumulative uptake of at least one dose of vaccine against Covid-19 in the EU-EEA was 79.4 per cent. In Bulgaria, this figure was a mere 25 per cent.
The ECDC said that in the 14-day period ending October 18, the cumulative uptake of full vaccination among adults (people over 18) in the EU-EEA was 74.1 per cent. In Bulgaria, it was 23.9 per cent.
There is a further complication. There have been reports in Bulgaria for weeks of people holding vaccination certificates issued on a false basis, meaning that they had illegally paid for a certificate without receiving the jab. This has the potential to skew figures, meaning that some cases of people dying although they were registered as vaccinated could be based on certificates obtained illegally.
A further factor in considering the statistics is that the Covid-19 deaths officially registered are of those who had tested positive, whether or not they had concomitant diseases. This means that the official figures for Covid-19 deaths in Bulgaria do not include the deaths of people who had Covid-19, but had not been tested.
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The Sofia Globe’s coverage of the Covid-19 situation in Bulgaria is supported by the Embassies of Switzerland and Finland.
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