Deutsche Welle (English edition)
Bulgaria: Fighting a losing battle against COVID
Only 29% of people in Bulgaria are fully vaccinated. Half the population is determined not to get the vaccine. The omicron wave confronts the country with serious challenges.
The statistics are grim: Bulgaria has the EU's highest death rate, per million of population, from COVID-19. Excess mortality in the country is higher than almost anywhere else in Europe.
Yet the majority of Bulgarians are still unwilling to get the vaccine. The country has the lowest vaccination rate in the EU — it's estimated that just under 29% of the population is fully vaccinated. There are constant, ongoing demonstrations in Bulgaria by anti-vaccine residents, with the result that, right now, the southeastern European country seems to be losing the battle against COVID-19 and the omicron wave.
COVID deniers and nationalists
Hundreds of citizens gathered on the square outside the Bulgarian parliament in Sofia on January 12 to protest against the so-called "green passport." Introduced in Bulgaria in October 2021, it serves as a proof of vaccination, recent recovery from COVID-19, or a recent negative test. People are required to show a green passport to gain entry to restaurants, bars and shopping malls. Many also need it to be allowed to work.
At the protest, one demonstrator gave a speech that later went viral on the Internet and social media. "I won't say my name, otherwise those who sit in parliament will persecute me," she shouted. "I studied biology for six years, so I know that the vaccines against coronavirus aren't vaccines at all! They're experimental cocktails that contain a chip and things that destroy our freedom. They're controlled by 5G systems. Nobody should get vaccinated!"
Like most protesters, the woman is a supporter of Vazrazhdane ("Revival”), a nationalist, COVID-skeptic party that made it into parliament for the first time in last November's election - with almost 5% of the vote.
Health system under extreme pressure
The mathematician Petar Velkov has often taken part in televised debates with members of Vazrazhdane, and other COVID-19 deniers and vaccine skeptics. He's trying to convince his compatriots of the need for vaccination. It's a difficult task.
"In other countries, vaccination and protective measures against the new wave have given medical professionals a muchneeded break, with hospitalizations and deaths remaining at a relatively low level. This has not been the case in Bulgaria," Velkov tells DW. He explains that the new omicron wave is hitting the country at a point when the health system is already under extreme pressure.
"In Bulgaria, when the new wave started, we were seeing about five to six times as many hospitalizations as at the start of the previous waves. That's why intensive care units are already struggling."
' Anti-vaccine' parliamentarians get the jab
Despite current record infection levels and the high mortality rate, many Bulgarians still believe the COVID-19 vaccine is more dangerous than the disease itself. "Fewer than 30% of adults in Bulgaria are vaccinated," Dimitar Ganev, an opinion pollster with the Trend research institute, told DW. "There are 20% that are not vaccinated but intend to get the vaccine. And about 50% are opposed to vaccination."
Vazrazhdane benefits from this skepticism. "Almost 70% of Bulgarians also oppose the green vaccination passport," Ganev explains. "The campaign against the vaccination passport enabled Vazrazhdane to enter parliament." The Euroskeptic, pro-Kremlin party was founded in 2014, but until recently it never managed to clear the 4% hurdle. The overwhelming majority of polls conducted before the election in November 2021 failed to predict its entry into parliament.
During the protests on January 12, Vazrazhdane delegates tried to open the doors of parliament to let the anti-vaccine demonstrators in. Yet, just a few days earlier, journalistic research revealed that a third of Vazrazhdane's delegates were, in fact, vaccinated. The leader of the party, Kostadin Kostadinov, has repeatedly described the vaccine as an "experimental liquid." Now he's backpedaling, issuing a qualifying statement to say that he supports freedom of choice on vaccination — including for members of his party.
Historical reasons and poor education
"There was very vocal skepticism among the Bulgarian public, right from the start of the pandemic and when the first vaccines arrived," says Ganev. He believes that can at least partly be accounted for by historical