So far, 34% of the Slovenian population has fully been vaccinated against COVID-19, half the set target, and discussions are going on as to how to ramp up immunisation by the autumn.

The country’s chief infectologist Bojana Beovic said on Thursday that so far the introduction of compulsory vaccination had not been given serious thought, while Prime Minister Janez Jansa recently hinted at such a possibility in some of the European Union’s member states. He said that at some point Slovenia would have to take a stand on the possibility of mandatory vaccination.

Beovic said that she was an advocate of mandatory inoculation, and told a news conference that the existing legislation on the obligatory vaccination of children against infectious diseases would make it easier for the authorities to introduce also obligatory vaccination against coronavirus.

On the other hand, Health Minister Janez Poklukar said today that mandatory COVID-19 vaccination was not yet on the agenda.

In the last 24 hours, there have been 68 new cases of the infection with the novel virus and one more COVID-related death. The share of positive tests has risen in the last days, while the share of COVID patients in hospitals has fallen. Currently 47 such patients are being treated in institutions, five fewer than last Thursday.