The Ministry of Health will allow the first pertussis immunization to be administered one and a half months after birth, and not as stipulated in the Immunization Calendar – after the baby’s second month. The reason – at the moment, the most registered cases are those under the age of 1 year and complications in newborns are more common. This was announced by the Council of Ministers today.
This decision was made during a meeting between Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev and 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 situation is continuously monitored, and the increase in morbidity is not a surprise for experts, as such peaks are usually observed in a period between 3 and 5 years, Minister Kondeva pointed out.
Angel Kunchev confirmed her words by stating that an increase in cases has been observed since the middle of last year in various countries in Europe and around the world.
Mangerov recommended that pregnant women be vaccinated against whooping cough
Babies and children should not gather with many people
There are 314 registered cases of whooping cough in Bulgaria so farcompared to 4 for the same period in 2023. During the meeting, the organization in kindergartens and schools where children with symptoms of whooping cough should not be admitted was also discussed.
The authorities call on parents to be responsible and, at the slightest doubt, stop their children from attending educational institutions and seek medical help.
For her part, Emilia Lazarova commented that the Ministry of Education and Science is carefully monitoring the situation and daily collecting information on the number of quarantined classes from the Regional Directorates of Education. The Ministry of Health is ready to respond to an increase in morbidity and if necessary, distance learning will be introduced in an electronic environment for individual classes.
The state matriculation exams and the National External Assessment will be held normally and no children will be harmed, assured Dimitar Glavchev.
“We can reassure society, we are ready to handle it“, he added, stating that he was satisfied with the measures taken.
Dozens of classes in several schools in Sofia have been quarantined because of whooping cough
A prescription from the RZI is awaited, less than 10 educational establishments in the capital are affected
