The health ministry has proposed a new rule for admitting to kindergarten children whose compulsory vaccines and boosters were all given abroad. A draft change to the ordinance on health requirements for kindergartens has been posted for public consultation on the ministry's website.

Before a child's first visit, parents or guardians would have to give the kindergarten's health office three documents: a copy of a document from the authorities in the country concerned, a Bulgarian translation, and an opinion from the regional health inspectorate.

The foreign document must show the date of the vaccination, the number of the dose and the brand name of the vaccine. In its opinion, the regional health inspectorate would confirm that the child has all the vaccines and boosters required for their age under Bulgaria's ordinance on immunisation.

According to the draft's explanatory notes, no such rule exists now. The ordinance on the national health information system (NHIS) allows data on the work of medical staff in health facilities, including vaccinations, to be entered as an electronic record. A vaccine given in another country cannot be entered.

As a result, data from parents' official documents cannot be recorded in the NHIS and used to prove a child's vaccination status before they start kindergarten. The ministry says this causes practical problems for children who have lived or were born outside Bulgaria and were vaccinated by medical staff in other countries.