“The Bulgarian anti-vaxxer, with 15% representativeness, makes noise as if it were 115%. Our weapon to fight this, unfortunately, is not science,” said the chief state health inspector Assoc. Angel Kunchev.
The Ministry of Health has created a specialized website for immunizations in Bulgaria. It was presented during a seminar for journalists “Vaccines and vaccine prevention”.
“There are five clusters in the attitude towards vaccines in Bulgarian society. About 25% are staunch supporters of vaccines, about 20% are skeptics who can be influenced through targeted messages, and only about 12% are staunch anti-vaxxers”. This was stated by the Deputy Health Minister Assoc. Mihail Okoliyski.
“The Bulgarian anti-vaxxer with 15% representativeness, makes noise as if for 115%. Our weapon to fight this, unfortunately, is not science. The decision whether to vaccinate is emotional, not rational. People should understand that vaccination is for their good – if they understand it, they will do it,” said the chief state health inspector Assoc. Angel Kunchev.
For the purposes of the new website of the Ministry of Health, the “Plus Men” platform – https://plusmen.bg/, which was launched during the pandemic to provide information on vaccines against COVID-19, was used. The updated portal presents data on mandatory and recommended immunizations, each of the diseases against which the vaccines are aimed, as well as the National vaccination programs implemented in Bulgaria.
Answers to the most frequently asked questions and refutation of the most common myths related to vaccines can be found on the site.
At the seminar, a UNICEF study commissioned by the Ministry of Health “Attitudes towards the implementation of the Bulgarian immunization calendar for children” was presented. According to the results, 61% of parents of children up to 4 years old are in support of mandatory vaccines and would give all and even additional vaccines. Regarding general practitioners, 83.7% of them are united around the opinion that vaccines from the immunization calendar for children aged 0 to 6 years should remain mandatory.
