There are whooping cough vaccines for children up to 2 years old, within a month the Ministry of Health will also provide free tests (Overview)

A whooping cough outbreak will be declared separately for each area

In the warehouse of the Ministry of Health there are enough pertussis vaccines for children from two months to two years. At the moment, there are 650 doses in the pharmacies, and by the end of this week, another 2,000 are expected to arrive. This reassured the Minister of Health, Dr. Galya Kondeva, at the extraordinary meeting of the parliamentary health committee on Tuesday.

MPs gathered to hear the minister and the head of the National Center for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases over the rise in whooping cough cases.

Since the beginning of the year there are 314,

with only 11 districts not being registered as infected. The most cases are in Sofia – 214, explained Kondeva.

Earlier in the day, the chief state health inspector Assoc. Angel Kunchev explained that by the end of the week he will propose to the minister that an epidemic of whooping cough be declared. However, according to Kondeva, an epidemic will be declared separately for each area. “60-70% of the sick are in Sofia, and so far there are no grounds for declaring an epidemic,” explained Kondeva.

The purpose of declaring an epidemic is to be able to issue an order to the minister to start it

vaccinating newborns earlier – at one and a half months,

and not as before – after the completion of two months. Kunchev together with the Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev, the Minister of Health and the Deputy Minister of Education and Science Emilia Lazarova discussed that newborns can be vaccinated earlier. However, before this becomes possible, the National Expert Council on Immunizations must make a recommendation to lower the age for the first immunization. In front of the deputies, Kondeva explained that she can start when the babies turn one and a half months old only after seeing the opinion of the council.

For now, students will transition online if the school principal decides. He must coordinate with the health inspections, Kunchev also said.

In order to make diagnostics more accessible to people, the members of the commission obliged the Ministry of Health to provide free PCR tests.

Within a month, Kondeva must prepare the necessary regulatory changes and, together with the Minister of Finance, secure the money for the purchase of pertussis tests.

Currently, the National Center has between 2 and 5 thousand tests. In the capital RZI – between 500 and 1000, explained its director Prof. Iva Hristova.

The immunization calendar must be updated within one month, if there is a positive opinion of the Immunization Council, and in this case additional quantities of vaccines must be purchased, the deputies also decided.

Adults who choose to be reimmunized will pay for their vaccines.

According to Kondeva, the country has good immunization coverage for whooping cough – 92.4%.