site.btaTihomir Bezlov: Low Vaccination Rate Turns Bulgaria into Social and Medical Experiment

Sofia, October 28 (BTA) - Tihomir Bezlov of the Center for the Study of Democracy told Bulgarian National Radio on Thursday that Bulgaria has turned into a social and medical experiment and everyone is waiting to see what will happen to those who have 20 per cent of their population vaccinated amid the spreading Delta variant of COVID-19.

According to Bezlov, it is inexplicable why the grave situation in Bulgarian hospitals is not shown on TV, which is something done by the Romanian media. He believes this could be due to the current political situation in Bulgaria. What with the political crisis and the behaviour of politicians, people have grown tired and indifferent, he said.

After two parliamentary elections this year, Bulgaria is heading for presidential and parliamentary elections on November 14.

Bezlov proposed taking advantage of the option to negotiate treatment of Bulgarian patients in other European countries, which Romania has done already, as the health care systems in other EU member states are not as overwhelmed as they were during previous COVID-19 waves.

He said that when the COVID-19 vaccines became available, Bulgaria was not among the most sceptical countries. "We were about the same as other European nations regarding scepticism towards the vaccines. The French, the Spanish and even the Americans were more sceptical than us. After that, the developed countries managed to organize good awareness campaigns and to persuade people to take them," he said.

Falling advertising revenues as a result of the pandemic put media outlets in a difficult situation, and they allowed much talk against the pandemic and the vaccines. Such rhetoric is unseen even in developing countries, Bezlov said.

He believes that the anti-vaxxers in Bulgaria who firmly refuse a COVID vaccine are around 20 per cent, which is not that much. Bezlov argued that the green certificate requirement came late and should have been introduced in the summer. MY