As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Capak’s assistant Marija Bubas was a recent guest on N1 televizija/television, during which she commented on fan zones where people can sit and watch the ongoing EURO 2020 matches en masse.
“I didn’t hear anyone ask these people if they were vaccinated or not. I think this is a great opportunity to introduce covid-certificates or any other acceptable evidence for participation in an event. Among the unvaccinated population, we have those who cannot receive the vaccine because they’re under the age of 12, those who cannot receive the vaccine for their own individual health reasons and those who don’t want to be vaccinated. Although I don’t know what they’re waiting for, as there are enough vaccines. We get vaccinated to protect our health first, but also the health of those who aren’t vaccinated. These fan zones are proof that people are eager to socialise and live the way they remember before the pandemic struck. But they must be aware that one of the basic tools for this is the vaccine,” said Marija Bubas.
Marija Bubas hopes that as soon as possible, covid-certificates will be introduced at events where a larger number of people gather together.
“Everyone who isn’t vaccinated is a reservoir for the spread of this disease. If you’re vaccinated, in some way you prevent the spread of the disease, and of course it’s guaranteed that you will not have a more severe form of the disease if you manage to catch is, you’re guaranteed life because a more severe form of the disease can often be followed by death,” said Bubas.
She stressed that there are enough vaccines in Croatia, but that we cannot yet say that we’re satisfied with the number of people vaccinated.
“There really are more than enough vaccines, over 2.6 million doses have arrived in Croatia, and over 2.1 million doses have been utilised, but still not enough for us to be satisfied. 42 percent of the adult population is now vaccinated. I think we should hurry up a bit with vaccinations in all age groups. The Pfizer vaccine is registered for age 12 plus. That would be my message to parents, teenagers from 16 to 18 are also eager for a normal summer, high school graduates are eager to pass their high school graduation and then take their entrance exams, instead of taking the entrance exam in autumn because then they probably won’t have access to all of the universities they might want to attend. My message to them is to get vaccinated, and don’t be in two minds about it,” said Marija Bubas.
Has a country-level decision been made about the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine?
“I’d like to answer this question because I think it was miscommunicated all the time and led to fear among the population of AstraZeneca. It’s the second most used vaccine in Croatia. Fortunately, people have recognised the value of vaccination, and I hope that AstraZeneca will continue to be used as an equally valuable vaccine as any other. We want to have a normal summer, we want to have tourists on the streets, in restaurants, we want to hold cultural events… Vaccination is a prerequisite for all this,” answered Marija Bubas.
How can we speed up the vaccination rollout? Should Croatia reward those who get vaccinated or punish those who don’t?
“No. I think we just have to raise security in public spaces to an even higher level, especially because of the spread of new variants/strains in our surroundings, which are present in low numbers in our country. We can raise this level by asking for a certificate of vaccination for people to be able to participate in certain things. For what we expect from the summer, from the season, for socialising, I think that the guarantee of safety is a certificate of vaccination,” concluded Marija Bubas.
For all you need to know about coronavirus specific to Croatia, including travel, border and quarantine rules, as well as the locations of vaccination points and testing centres up and down the country, make sure to bookmark our dedicated COVID-19 section and select your preferred language.
