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State Secreatary Jelko Kacin: Vaccination is part of preparations for autumn

The press conference was attended by the state secretary Jelko Kacin, who is also the coordinator of logistics of mass vaccinations against Covid-19.
Maja Bratuša, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Maja Bratuša, Ministry of Foreign Affairs | Author Ukom

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A total of 4,698 PCR tests and 27,065 rapid tests were carried out yesterday. 726 cases were confirmed with PCR. The 7-day average of infections was somewhat lower today compared to yesterday, at 520. A total of 463 patients are being treated in hospitals (477 yesterday). Based on the NIJZ data of today, 9 regions are yellow and 3 remain orange. These are the Littoral-Inner Carniola, Central Sava and Upper Carniola regions. Two persons have lost their lives. The government will discuss the current epidemiological situation at Brdo pri Kranju this afternoon, said Maja Bratuša.

Kacin: The lifting of measures should not mislead us. The epidemic is not over yet

Even though the epidemiological situation is improving, he warned against the misleading thinking that the health crisis and the epidemic is already over.

In order to prepare for autumn when the virus will be most aggressive again, the nation needs to be vaccinated and a sufficient nationwide vaccination coverage needs to be achieved. We need to get vaccinated now, said Kacin, to remain sufficiently resilient and safe for at least half of the year, perhaps even longer.

Approx. 3 percent of the adult population has already received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 15 percent were vaccinated with two doses. We keep on forgetting that many people around us are convalescent, more than 200,000, which is why the share of those who developed antibodies without the vaccine because they were infected and recovered from Covid-19 is also large and worth noting. The achieved immunity is only prolonged for such people, which is why we need to be careful to administer one refreshing dose in due time. Responding to the question, he said that the convalescent people remain a priority group. He refused the criticism that we will not be able to achieve a sufficient vaccination coverage in due time.

He said that they will use much more than one hundred thousand doses of four different vaccines in the vaccination centres this week. In terms of the organisation, he praised the organisation in the vaccination centre in Celje.

He also said that more vaccination centres have joined the vaccination application because its usage simplifies the work of staff in these centres. He says that zVem is also a major and important contribution to the digitalisation of healthcare in general.

Enough AZ vaccines for everybody

After the complications with the AZ vaccine on the European level, he reiterated that the European Commission demands the supply of 90 million contractual doses of AZ via court recovery on behalf of all 27 EU member states, including Slovenia.

He ensured that there will be enough AZ vaccines for everyone, not just for the second dose, but also for the continuation of the vaccination programme. He says that most people this week will take the Pfizer vaccine, almost 52%, followed by AZ (34%), Janssen (almost 9%), and Moderna (only 6%). 70 percent of people will take their first dose and 30% will take their second dose.

The logistics coordinator of mass vaccinations, Jelko Kacin, also thanked everyone who was already vaccinated or has already registered for the vaccination and is waiting for their date. Vaccination is the most efficient measure in limiting the spread of Covid-19 and preventing autumn outbursts of the virus and disease.