ZAGREB, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The vaccination against COVID-19 will not be mandatory in Croatia, the country's chief epidemiologist said on Friday.
Vaccination is a matter of social responsibility and solidarity with the most vulnerable people who can suffer from coronavirus infection, said Krunoslav Capak, director of the Croatian Institute of Public Health.
"We think it is important to emphasize that vaccination protects not only ourselves but others as well," he told a press conference on Friday.
The Croatian government is preparing a special campaign to encourage people to vaccinate against COVID-19 once a vaccine is available.
Croatia has ordered COVID-19 vaccines from several companies through the European Union, and they are expected to be delivered to the country as soon as they are registered.
Capak said they had ordered over five million doses, which should be enough for all people in the country. However, he added, people will need to wear masks even after they are vaccinated because of the assumption that they can still transmit the virus.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday that the vaccine jabs would be free.
After seeing a record daily number of 4,534 new infections Thursday, Croatia reported 3,955 new COVID-19 infections and 68 related deaths on Friday.
Since Feb. 25, when the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Croatia, a total of 143,370 people have been infected with the coronavirus, of whom 2,032 have died and 117,148 have recovered, according to Croatian Institute of Public Health.
To bring life back to normal, countries such as the United Kingdom, China, Germany, Russia and the United States are racing against time to develop coronavirus vaccines. Enditem
