Maja Bratuša started the press conference with encouraging information, telling that Tuesday's 7-day average of infections had fallen below 300, to 287. What this means for the validity of existing measures in the light of the expected movement of the epidemic curve will be discussed with the Advisory Group at the Ministry of Health this afternoon at the Brdo Estate near Kranj.

388 new infections were confirmed on Tuesday, with 4,237 PCR tests. In addition to the number of PCR tests, 28,151 rapid antigen tests were performed yesterday. Five regions of Slovenia are still coloured yellow while seven are now green. She emphasised that the situation in different regions was becoming more comparable.

Mr Kacin: 20.2 percent of adults have been vaccinated with a second dose

The logistical coordinator of the Covid-19 vaccination emphasised that the epidemiological situation reflected an increasing proportion of vaccinated people, especially among more vulnerable members of the population. A greater number of vaccinations impedes the spread the virus, as is reflected by the encouraging test results which show that the number of new infections is reducing. According to the National Institute of Public Health, 635,433 adults or 36.8% of the population have been vaccinated with the first dose, and 348,080 or 20.2% are vaccinated with a second dose.

Mr Kacin called on the public, especially those over the age of 50, to be vaccinated, but also pointed out that there are problems with supplies, which remain unstable and unreliable. Of the entire Slovenian population, the share of those vaccinated with the first dose is 636,184 or 30.3% while 348,304 people or 16.6% have received a second dose.  Mr Kacin believes that the share would undoubtedly be higher if we had a greater supply of vaccines.

Supplies are currently unreliable

Mr Kacin emphasised that all vaccine suppliers have problems, only Moderna stands out positively, and has been regularly supplying the same quantities of doses to Slovenia for weeks. However, their shipments cover only 11% of weekly deliveries. Due to problems, the supplier of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has recently changed the current practice of forecasting shipments and has been announcing biweekly deliveries for some time, but unfortunately no more long-term deliveries.  Mr Kacin also emphasised that Slovenia expects the supplier to start implementing the agreement with the European Commission by the end of this month, which would almost double their weekly deliveries to Slovenia.

On Friday, we expect a larger amount of AstroZeneca doses in Slovenia, which will enable the competent service of the National Institute of Public Health to deliver significantly more doses to vaccination centres next week, said logistics coordinator Kacin. This week, vaccination centres were provided with quantities for the second dose of AstraZeneca. We continue to retain part of the doses of this vaccine in reserve, the speaker pointed out, as AstraZeneca still does not supply the vaccine every week. The demand for doses has increased in the last week because the advisory group has allowed a shortening of the period between the first and second doses.

Pfizer-BioNTech applies to EMA for registration of vaccines for adolescents (12–15 years)

Jelko Kacin also said at the press conference that Comirnaty, our main supplier of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, had already received permission to vaccinate 12 to 15-year old children in Canada, and later in the USA, and had requested the same proceedings at the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

He emphasised that the decision is expected to be made as soon as possible, perhaps as early as this month, and subsequently confirmed by the European Commission. This would allow us to effectively protect children in the future. Moderna has announced the same request to regulators.

The goal remains greater vaccination coverage

Our domestic goal is and remains to vaccinate as much of the population as possible, as quickly as possible. So I would like to inform everyone who is still waiting for vaccination that many more vaccines will be available in June, and that vaccination centres are preparing for a greater response, Mr Kacin explained. 

At the moment, it is very important that people over the age of 50 who are not yet protected are vaccinated as soon as possible, so that younger people, and especially those working in tourism, can be vaccinated en masse in order to start up the industries that have suffered the most from restrictions which we have enforced to protect the lives of the most vulnerable and to manage the health crisis.

A sincere thank you to all of you who have taken on a share of the burden. All of you, who have already been vaccinated, please encourage others to be vaccinated as well, as the messages of those who already have this personal experience and protection are more valuable. Let us try to achieve more and better together, and above all, faster. We can succeed together, so stay healthy, said State Secretary Jelko Kacin.