Bulgaria has spent more than 145M leva on Covid-19 vaccines that it scrapped
Bulgaria has spent more than 145 million leva on more than five million doses of vaccines that it scrapped between 2022 and 2024, caretaker Health Minister Galya Kondeva said in reply to questions tabled in Parliament by Vuzrazhdane MP Viktor Papazov.
The doses were scrapped because of expired expiration dates, unused multi-dose vials, broken or improperly stored vials, Kondeva said.
Vaccines are scrapped once a year by designated committees at regional health inspectorates and the ministry, she said.
Bulgaria declared a State of Emergency in March 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Vaccination against Covid-19 in Bulgaria began in December 2020, at first on a limited basis by category of person, later offered universally, and throughout, free of charge.
However, because of widespread disinformation against vaccination, Bulgaria recorded about the lowest rate of vaccination against Covid-19 in the European Union, with a concomitantly high excess mortality rate.
As of June 30 2024, when Bulgaria ended daily reporting of Covid-19 statistics, the unified information portal showed a total of 38 748 Covid-19 deaths in Bulgaria.
It is not clear how many doses were scrapped in Bulgaria between December 2020 and the end of 2024.
In February 2023, the caretaker Health Minister of the time, Assen Medzhidiev, said that by that stage, 2.3 million doses had been scrapped. However, that 2020 to February 2023 period of time partly overlaps with the 2022 – 2024 period spoken of by Kondova.
