The Ministry of Health will provide free pertussis vaccines to all pregnant women from 27 to 36 weeks of gestation. This was announced by the Minister of Health, Dr. Galya Kondeva, at a briefing in the Council of Ministers.
She noted that registered cases of whooping cough in the country are over 500, at 4 in the same period last year. This clearly shows the tendency for an epidemic spread of a disease. Over 90% of cases are children, and the risk group of complications and hospitalization are children under 1 year. 84% of them are not immunized due to underage or other reasons.
The Minister announced that because of this, as well as after opinions from the National Council on Immunizations and the Council on Obstetrics and Gynecology and at the suggestion of the Chief State Health Inspector, she had decided to update of Bulgaria’s immunization calendar.
According to the change, the basic routine immunization against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, poliomyelitis, Haemophilus influenzae type B infections and hepatitis B in newborns will be allowed to start earlier, and precisely from the sixth week.
The Ministry will provide the opportunity for all pregnant women between 27 and 36 weeks of gestation who wish, regardless of whether they are health insured or not, to be immunized for free against this disease. For this purpose, an organization will be created in the RZI to carry out free immunizations for pregnant women.
There will be immunization offices in every regional center. If there is a need, we are ready to organize mobile offices, assured the chief state health inspector Angel Kunchev.
“Of course, we are also working on providing diagnostics. We were just discussing that we will probably add Burgas to the four centers in Varna, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora and Pleven, since the opportunity is there and the population is large enough. In these places, on the recommendation of the regional health inspectorates, free PCR diagnostics will be done according to criteria that we have already sent,” he added.
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. Every pregnant woman can have a consultation with the obstetrician-gynecologist who monitors the pregnancy, as well as with the general practitioner, the expert thinks.
The promise of 2,000 doses will be fulfilled, he commented on the availability of pertussis vaccines.
