SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Bulgarian health authorities said Monday that 2.8 million of expired COVID-19 doses will be destroyed this year in addition to the 2.3 million doses that have already been scrapped in the country with the lowest vaccination rate in the European Union.
According to Health Minister Assen Medzhidiev there is an excessive number of vaccines, low vaccination coverage, and a lack of people who want a shot. Only 30% of the country’s 6.5 million population has basic immunization.
Medzhidiev said Bulgaria has called on the European Commission to end a contract with BioNTech/Pfizer under which his country is obliged to buy coronavirus vaccines until 2025. He said Bulgaria’s position is supported by Poland, the Czech Republic and Lithuania.
The minister called it “irrational” for Bulgaria to buy more vaccines that the country will end up destroying.
Official figures show that Bulgaria will scrap more anti-COVID doses than it has administered.
A total of 4,6 million doses have been administered in Bulgaria. Some 2 million people have completed a two-shot vaccination course, while nearly 1 million have received a booster dose. There have been some 1.3 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Bulgaria, and a confirmed death toll of 38,211.
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