The Ministry of Health to allow the first immunization against whooping cough to be administered earlier, a month and a half after birth, and not as laid down in the Immunization Calendar – after the baby’s second month. This was decided at a meeting between the Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev, the Minister of Health Dr. Galya Kondeva, the Deputy Minister of Education and Science Emilia Lazarova and the Chief State Health Inspector Assoc. Angel Kunchev.
The reason for the new measure is that currently the most registered cases of whooping cough are among children under the age of 1 and complications in newborns are more common.
Over 50% is the jump in the number of people infected with whooping cough in our country in the last week (OVERVIEW)
Minister Kondeva pointed out that the situation is constantly being monitored, and the increase in morbidity is not a surprise to the experts. Such peaks are usually observed in a period between 3 and 5 years.
Why has pertussis returned and is there a risk of an epidemic in our country
This was also confirmed by Assoc. Kunchev, saying that an increase in cases has been observed since the middle of last year in various countries in Europe and around the world. In Bulgaria, the number of registered cases so far is 314, compared to 4 for the same period in 2023.
During the meeting in the MC, the organization of kindergartens and schools where children with symptoms of whooping cough should not be admitted was also discussed. The authorities call on parents to also be responsible and, at the slightest doubt, stop their children from school and seek medical help.
First case of whooping cough in Veliko Tarnovo
For her part, Emilia Lazarova commented that the Ministry of Education and Culture is carefully monitoring the situation and daily collecting information on the number of quarantined classes from the Regional Directorates of Education. The Ministry of Education and Culture is ready to respond to an increase in morbidity and, if necessary, distance learning will be introduced in an electronic environment for individual classes. Prime Minister Glavchev was confident that the State Matriculation Examinations and the National External Assessment will be conducted normally and no children will be harmed.
The Prime Minister stated that he is satisfied with the measures taken and believes that the institutions are prepared. “We can reassure the public, we are ready to deal with it,” concluded Glavchev.
Don’t miss the beat of the day! Follow us at Google News Showcase
