As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Krunoslav Capak recently spoke about the worrying large number of infections in neighbouring Serbia, but also about the big jump the same sense here in Croatia, as well as the third dose of the vaccine. Here in Croatia, after five months, we have seen quite a dramatic jump in the infection rate. Krunoslav Capak said that if you were to ask him personally, that he doesn’t expect these figures to go over 2000.
“But if you look at the weekly averages – we’re in stagnant growth. The first three days of this week had fewer cases than the first three days of last week. I’d dare to say and we hope that this is the peak of the fourth wave and that the numbers will now come back down again,” he said.
Krunoslav Capak also said that he thinks that we’re now right in the very peak of the fourth wave, although cooler, less stable weather is coming and that can pose a danger for the epidemiological situation, much like it did last year when things were at their very worst.
“We always need to remember that we have a large number of people who still aren’t vaccinated, people who are unwell or overweight… That said, we also have a population that is already used to all of this, that more or less maintains social distance, doesn’t attend gatherings, doesn’t spend much time in closed spaces, so we’re hoping that we might see the peak and that in a short time, meaning the second half of October, the numbers will start to fall,” Krunoslav Capak said.
“If the virus is allowed a lot of space, it can spread”
He also commented on the situation in neighbouring Serbia, which has an average of more than 6,500 infected people per day.
“Despite the level of vaccination there, which is very similar to ours in Croatia, if the virus is allowed a lot of space to spread, it will do precisely that,” he said.
Krunoslav Capak also said that high numbers for the winter are possible in Croatia, too.
“We hope that this won’t happen, because we’re at another level of vaccination, we have different epidemiological measures and the quality of compliance with these measures is different,” he said.
A booster dose of the coronavirus vaccine
He also commented on the recommendations for the third, so-called coronavirus booster dose.
He talked about whether these booster vaccinations will be organised in hospitals and in nursing homes like last winter or whether it will take place at mass vaccination points.
“In our document, we recommended that vaccinations be organised for inpatient social care institutions and in the healthcare system, as was the case with the first set of vaccinations, while for all other categories, in consultation with a doctor, we can of course organise vaccinations at mass vaccination points,” said Capak for RTL.
The prolongation of the Croatian covid certificates after a booster or third dose of the vaccine
Capak also said that they haven’t yet determined the dates when they will start with the third dose, but that it will happen very soon.
When asked if anyone could come to the vaccination point on their own and say they live with an immunocompromised person and want to be vaccinated with the third dose, Capak replied: “The direct answer to your question is that yes, they’ll be able to do that. We always have doctors present at these mass vaccination sites. Anyone can get vaccinated in consultation with a doctor.”
He also answered whether the third dose prolongs the duration of Croatian covid certificates.
“Given the fact that the EMA has now approved it, we’re going to introduce the possibility for people to be vaccinated like this. Work is underway to deal with it all in terms of IT and to create business rules for issuing covid certificates. According to us, we’re ready to extend people’s covid certificates after that booster or third dose for another year,” he concluded.
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