NCZI Head: Vaccination Dates for Youth Were Allocated Correctly

Bratislava, May 3 (TASR) – Vaccination dates for 16- and 17-year-olds were assigned correctly and in accord with the respective regulation, National Centre for Health Information (NCZI) head Robert Suja told a news conference on Monday.

According to Suja, there wasn’t a high demand for vaccination in the regions where these people applied for vaccination. He said that young people showed a high level of willingness to travel across the whole country for vaccination. As long as vaccines are available, Suja sees no problem in these people being vaccinated. “If we side-track these enthusiasts at the very beginning, the idea won’t spread further,” he said.

Meanwhile, Suja is concerned about low demand for vaccination. There are currently 258,000 people registered in a waiting room for vaccination. If more people do not register, vaccination centres may close in three to four weeks, he said. He expects the vaccination rate to amount to less than 38 percent and so herd immunity won’t be achieved.

Suja pointed to the fact that the NCZI hasn’t received any financial support from the state, for example for sending SMSs, while huge sums were allocated for antigen tests. He stressed that the NCZI is just a technical implementor and it has no influence on the state vaccination policy. Therefore, he criticised hateful comments against the NCZI appearing on social networks.

According to Suja, the NCZI obtained information on the chronically ill from health insurers on Thursday (April 29).

The waiting time for vaccines differs in individual regions, stated Suja.