Bulgaria "is not an island, it is part of Europe," warned Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market while the European Union is worried about the low vaccination rate in this country.
With only 24.2% of its population of 6.9 million fully vaccinated, Bulgaria lags behind a European average of 68%, according to an AFP tally based on official sources.
But with such a low vaccination rate, "it can become a hotbed of the pandemic," he warned, while the epidemic is returning to the Old Continent. "It is a big risk, of course for Bulgaria but also for all the others", "for our whole continent". The commissioner, who is responsible for coordinating the European Union's supply of anti-Covid vaccines, said he feared the appearance this winter of a new variant, "more resistant", in this poorest country in the world. EU whose public health is at the end of its rope. “If we don't do anything, we could have a Bulgarian variant. Because too many people have not been vaccinated, which can generate a new variant. It would be very bad news for Bulgaria, but also for all of us, ”insisted Thierry Breton.
The Bulgarian vaccination campaign suffers from strong mistrust of the population towards the authorities and a flood of false information.
The Covid-19 death rate is one of the highest in the world.
“Do not mix politics with science, nor with health,” said Breton, before meeting with interim Prime Minister Stefan Yanev.
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"It is the responsibility of the Bulgarian authorities to protect the population", concluded the Commissioner.
In this country deprived of a stable government since April, the interim cabinet only recently introduced a health pass that had little effect, preferring to refrain from taking more stringent and unpopular measures.