There will be offices in every regional center, all pregnant women who wish can be immunized against whooping cough, said Angel Kunchev

There will be immunization offices in every regional center. If there is a need, we are ready to organize mobile offices. This was said at a briefing in the Council of Ministers by the Chief State Health Inspector Angel Kunchev, commenting on the possibility of free vaccination against pertussis for pregnant women in our country.

“We strive to ensure maximum safety for the most at-risk group – children up to one year old. Especially those who have not reached immunization age. This is done in two ways, both by lowering the age of immunization by two weeks, with which we cover 25% of them, and by allowing all willing pregnant women to be immunized at immunization points free of charge as a recommended immunization, so that they provide antibodies for their newborn children. I think that this will to the greatest extent solve the problem with the most risky group,” Kunchev pointed out.

“Of course, we are also working on providing diagnostics. We have just discussed that we will probably add Burgas to the four centers in Varna, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora and Pleven, since there is an opportunity and the population is large enough. In these places, on the recommendation of the Regional Health Inspections, free PCR diagnostics will be done according to the criteria we have already sent,” he added.

According to the state health inspector, these are the steps that will lead to a sharp reduction in risk, especially of severe course and complications. “You see that this high rate is even higher than in Europe. More than 80% of those who are infected and cause the disease are unimmunized, or at a post-immunization age, or with missed immunizations for some reason,” said Angel Kunchev.

According to him, the centers can start working on the first working days after the Easter holidays.

A recommendation for mass immunization in this situation is unlikely to be appropriate. According to the expert, every pregnant woman can have a consultation with the obstetrician-gynecologist who monitors the pregnancy, as well as with the general practitioner.

The promise of 2,000 doses will be fulfilled, he commented on the availability of pertussis vaccines.

Registered cases of whooping cough already exceed 500, Health Minister Galya Kondeva announced.