The vaccination against the coronavirus started also in Košice. (source: TASR)
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The vaccination against the novel coronavirus continued on December 28.
Among those who received the jab was Foreign Affairs Minister Ivan Korčok (SaS nominee) and Ombudswoman Mária Patakyová.
“I consider the start of vaccination another proof that science and its ability to save human lives is an answer to the pandemic,” Korčok wrote on Facebook.
We now have to persuade people who are afraid of the vaccine to receive the jab, too. In his opinion, it is a way to return to normal.
Meanwhile, the first healthcare staff in four hospitals across Slovakia received the vaccine jab on December 27. 110 people were vaccinated in the University Hospital in Bratislava (UNB), 90 of them being healthcare staff. In Košice, 98 healthcare employees have been vaccinated, and another 100 will follow in coming days.
“Four hospitals in Bratislava, Banská Bystrica, Košice and Nitra, which possess the first supply of some 10,000 vaccines, will distribute them to other hospitals,” said Health Minister Marek Krajčí (OĽaNO), as quoted by the TASR newswire.
Four waves of vaccination in Slovakia
healthcare staff, employees of nursing homes, critical infrastructure;
people older than 65 years, people suffering from chronic diseases, clients of nursing homes;
marginalised groups, homeless people, asylum seekers, teachers;
everybody older than 18 years (voluntary principle)
The vaccination schedule will be prepared by the hospital directors. Doctors, nurses and other healthcare staff working in the COVID zones will be preferred.
Apart from medical staff, President Zuzana Čaputová and several cabinet and parliament members received the jab on December 27. A day before, the very first person in Slovakia, infectologist Vladimír Krčméry, was vaccinated.
Slovakia has contracted 18 million vaccines. The national vaccination strategy counts with vaccinating 3.3 million people in four stages, whose start will depend on the availability of vaccines, Krajčí said.
In January, they expect to receive another 150,000 vaccines.
Compensations for complications
In the meantime, Krajčí promised to compensate those who develop health complications after getting vaccinated. Among the most frequent side effects that can develop by the currently used Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine are painful and reddish needle marks, a slightly higher temperature and painful muscle stiffening.
The fund Krajčí plans to establish should also compensate people who are getting other than the coronavirus vaccine, the Sme daily reported.
While in the Czech Republic, they are compensating people with grave health consequences after vaccination for already the second year, the Slovak health ministers have not dealt with the issue before.
“The vaccination compensation fund is a long-term topic, not only in relation to this vaccine,” said Health Ministry’s spokesperson Zuzana Eliášová, as quoted by Sme. “It requires broader expert discussion.”
The ministry has failed to answer more detailed questions about the fund. Neither is it clear who will evaluate whether it is the COVID-19 vaccine causing health consequences.
