We are starting a program according to which every pensioner who decides to be vaccinated or has already been vaccinated on the basis of three doses will receive a covid supplement of BGN 75, announced the Prime Minister Kiril Petkov. He made a statement to the media about the new economic incentives for vaccination.

There will be no pensioner who has been fully vaccinated and does not receive this supplement, Petkov announced. The program opens from early January to June 30.

Here are the conditions of the program:

• pensioners who have not been vaccinated at all - will receive BGN 75 after the first dose;
• those vaccinated with two doses - will receive the supplement of BGN 75 if they put a third dose.
• those who have already given three doses will receive BGN 75 when the program starts.

The hope is that if we vaccinate an additional 300,000 people over the age of 65 by the beginning of February, this should also ease the possibility of filling the hospitals in the next wave of covid with a very tangible percentage, the prime minister added.

Statistics on covid vaccines make it one of the lowest risk vaccines, Petkov said, adding that talks are under way with GPs to explain this detail to their patients.

This will be a voluntary measure, accompanied by a strong information campaign. Everyone has a responsibility for their own health, Petkov stressed.

"It depends on the individual decisions of each of us whether we will have overcrowded hospitals in the coming months, whether the state budget will spend an awful lot of money on treating covid patients, whether people with other diseases will be able to go to hospitals, whether our children will learn freely and whether our loved ones will be healthy.”

"It is time to roll up our sleeves and make Bulgaria not a destination with the lowest vaccination, but a normal European country with medium levels of vaccination," Petkov urged.

/BNT