Bulgaria will get 31,680 doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine by the end of the year, Dr Kremena Parmakova, head of infectious disease surveillance at the health ministry, has said.
Regional health offices are setting up vaccination rooms, and mobile teams will visit people who struggle to travel and those living in remote areas. When a regional health office hears that people in an area want the vaccine, it sends a team out to them.
Parmakova was speaking to reporters at a seminar on preventing and vaccinating against seasonal flu, respiratory syncytial virus, Covid-19, pneumococcus and chickenpox.
She said the vaccine still protects against severe illness and death, but works less well over time because the virus keeps mutating. In 2021, when the vaccine was developed, it cut the risk of hospitalisation by 85%. By 2024-2025 that had dropped to around 60%. Protection against death in 2024-2025 ranges from 62% to 78%. "The vaccine doesn't stop people catching the virus — it stops the illness turning severe," Parmakova said.
Fewer people in Bulgaria are getting vaccinated each year. The national health information system recorded more than 1,770,000 vaccinated in 2021, over 709,000 in 2022, over 119,000 in 2023, over 38,000 in 2024 and over 19,000 in 2025.
Across the EU, Covid-19 cases rose slightly between September 14 and 20 compared with the week before, mostly among 15-year-olds, while hospital admissions dropped a little. People aged 65 and over are hit hardest.
The World Health Organization recommends regular Covid-19 vaccination for those most at risk of severe illness: older adults with other health conditions, people with severe obesity, and everyone over 75.