The head of the Split-Dalmatia County Institute of Public Health, Zeljka Karin, said on Tuesday that out of the first delivery of 8,000 COVID vaccines, which should be dispatched to Croatia on Saturday, 800 doses would be immediately distributed to Split where the vaccination could start on Sunday.

In the next ten to 15 days, additional deliveries of the COVID vaccine are expected to arrive.

According to Karin, the recommendation is that in Split, the first jabs should be administered to hospital staff who are in direct contact with COVID patients, as well as to personnel in the emergency wards. Patients with chronic diseases are also among the first to be vaccinated against COVID.

“After that, senior citizens in retirement homes will be vaccinated,” Karin said at a ceremony at which a €16,300 hospital freezer for storage of vaccine doses was donated.

The 560-litre freezer, made in Japan, was provided by the Optika Anda company.