Bulgaria can achieve collective immunity against COVID-19 within 63 days if the current rate of vaccination is maintained, government health adviser Nikolay Vitanov said on Thursday.

Bulgaria has been able to vaccinate about 0.5% of its population per day this week after it received more than 1 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.

According to Vitanov, 70% of the population will be protected against COVID-19 by mid-July. This includes people who have already been infected with the virus, as well as those who have received the jab. 

Bulgaria has officially recorded 413,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases, which is estimated to be at least three times less than the actual number because of limited testing.

A total of 10% of the population have already been vaccinated with one dose, while 5% are fully vaccinated. Bulgaria currently ranks last in the EU in terms of people vaccinated. 

A Eurofound survey conducted in early March shows that 62% of Bulgarians are reluctant to get vaccinated, the highest proportion in the EU. The data was collected before the third wave of the pandemic, which has hit the Balkan country hard. /Krassen Nikolov | EURACTIV.bg