Prof. Kantardzhiev: In May-June, herd immunity in Bulgaria may be achieved with RNA vaccines

During the months of May-June, sufficient quantities of RNA vaccines will arrive in Bulgaria and we will be able to achieve herd immunity, Prof. Todor Kantardzhiev, director of the Centre for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases and a member of the National Operational Headquarters (coronavirus task force) told the BNT morning show "The day begins" on April 14

We are now in April - we are waiting for further 250,000 vaccines to come to our country, another million in May - 250,000 every week from the Pfizer-BioNTech and 350,000 every week in June, and further 250,000 of Moderna. So, we will have enough RNA vaccines to achieve collective immunity, says Prof. Kantardzhiev.

He also commented on the introduction of vaccination certificates for travel.

Our country is supportive of such certificates. We are a tourist destination and I think that a very active policy is being made with our neighbouring countries s and at the EU level in order to have to have a freer but controlled movement of people, explained Prof. Kantardzhiev. .

A healthy person who does not pose a risk to others is welcome in our country, he added.

At European level, the certificate contains very little information - the person's name and whether he or she has had a coronavius, whether antibodies have been made and what the immune response is, if tested, and third, whether he or she has been vaccinated, the expert explained.

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Each vaccine is a medicine and is administered according to the manufacturer's recommendations - if one manufacturer has said two doses, then it should be administered in two doses, said Prof. Kantardzhiev.

Whether the Astra Zeneca vaccine can be combined with another type - research on this issue began in February and within a week or two we will have the results so that it can be legally regulated and adopted, explained Prof. Kantardzhiev.

According to him, it is not yet legally regulated to administer two doses of different vaccines.

As regards the blood clotting that occurred after vaccinations, these are not so common, the cases are rare - a severe one develops in three million people, explained Prof. Kantardzhiev.

He stressed that thrombosis occurs only at the first shot of the vaccine and is relatively more common in young women of childbearing age taking contraceptives.

The risk is, yesterday I talked to colleagues from Germany - when a woman is ovulating and taking the first dose of "Atra Zeneca", the professor explained. This is what I call immune thrombosis, and it must be treated with gamma globulin to protect the person, he added.

Let's wait until this week to consider the proposals of these expert councils for the combination of two types of vaccines. My personal opinion is to wait, the expert said.

According to him, the manifestations of thrombosis are so rare that it is not yet possible to say how the mechanism of blood clots formation depends on the vaccine. At second shot, no case of thrombosis has been described, Kantardzhiev is adamant.

The price of PCR tests is very high due to high demand, so far nothing can be done to reduce it, because private laboratories determine the price according to demand, said Prof. Kantardzhiev.

He explained that new variants of the coronavirus are already being observed in the country, they are in Northern Bulgaria. We are currently clarifying them and more information will be announced immediately, added Prof. Kantardzhiev.