Slovenia with 5th-highest rate of Covid-19 vaccine utilisation
Brussels, 1 February - Slovenia has used 83.5% of the Covid-19 vaccine vials it has received so far, which puts it in the fifth place among the 15 European countries for which data are available in the relevant tracker launched by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on Monday.
Ljubljana
Covid-19 vaccination.
Photo: Daniel Novakovič/STA
The tracker, which uses data that are not yet complete, comes after the calls from the European Commission to EU member states to provide information at least twice a week on the number of vials they have received and the number of persons vaccinated.
It shows that Slovenia has so far received 70,230 vials, of which 58,638 have been used for a rate of 83.5%, which is the fifth highest among the 15 countries for which data are available.
The higher rates are recorded only by Lithuania (100%), Iceland (92.7%), Poland (87.3%) and Spain (84.8%), while the lowest rate is recorded in Cyprus (21.5%).
In Slovenia, 3% of adults have received their first shots, with only Iceland (3.8%), Finland (3.7%) and Malta (3.1%) recording a higher share among the 18 countries that have provided the data. The lowest rate is recorded in Cyprus (0.9%).
Slovenia has received 4.1 vials per 100 adult citizens so far, which compares to the lowest ratio of 3.5 in Spain and the highest ratio of 9.8 in Malta.
The overall plan in the EU is that 80% of healthcare workers and persons older than 80 are vaccinated by March, and that 70% of all adults are vaccinated by the summer.
A recent survey conducted in Slovenia indicates that 84% of doctors are likely or sure to opt for vaccination. Out of medical students 82% are likely or willing to get the shot, whereas 61% of those studying other healthcare-related courses would follow suit.
When it comes to other heath staff only a half would get vaccinated, shows the study, conducted in late December by students of the Maribor Faculty of Medicine and the tracker site Covid-19 Sledilnik among 12,042 persons, including 2,068 of those working in healthcare.