European Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides visited a Covid-19 vaccination point in Zagreb on Friday with Health Minister Vili Beros, telling Croatian citizens to get vaccinated and listen to scientists' messages, not messages on social media.

“Get vaccinated to protect yourselves, your fellow citizens and so that hospitals are not full of patients again. That’s a very clear message, based on science and the reality we know. Listen to scientists, not experts on social media,” Kyriakides said.

“We are not in the same situation as in 2020. Today we have a safe and effective vaccine which was approved for use in the EU. We have enough vaccines, but we must go forward. We don’t want to have a pandemic of the non-vaccinated,” she added.

Croatia has vaccinated about 55% of its adult population against coronavirus. It must accelerate it because in the EU we have more than 75% of the population fully vaccinated. That’s why it’s necessary to accelerate vaccination as much as possible so that we don’t have areas in the EU that are still unprotected, she said.

Minister Beros commented on a letter by five members of the government’s Scientific Council who distanced themselves from statements made by Council member Gordan Lauc.

He said that when members of a scientific forum individually commented on “expertly established facts” on social media, contrary to the forum’s clearly stated views, such commenting “is damaging.”

Beros added that he said yesterday all he had to say about Lauc and the Council and that, as far as he knew, most Council members wanted to continue to be part in it.

“They don’t intend to leave the Council as that would send a bad message of inconsistency,” he added.