Roughly two million doses of COVID vaccines are currently lying in storage in Croatia, the Health Ministry confirmed on Wednesday, adding they were looking into offering financial incentives to those who decide to get booster shots against COVID-19, in an attempt to persuade more people to get vaccinated.

The ministry is thinking about reducing supplemental health insurance fees for those who decide to get a booster dose.

Some 2.31 million Croatians have received at least one shot of any Covid-19 vaccine to date, which, according to the health authorities, translates to 56.9 percent of the country’s entire population.

About half a million Croatians aged 30-55, as well as some 400,000 people above 55 years of age should be re-vaccinated, said the ministry.

However, the vaccination uptake rate has slowed to a trickle. Even though the vaccines are widely available and free of charge, the interest in vaccines among Croatians is reportedly very low – on Tuesday, authorities reported that only 811 vaccine shots had been administered that day in the entire country, including just 100 first-timers. Booster shots have been available since December.

The ministry is still considering possibilities of introducing vaccination with a fourth dose.

According to some estimates, roughly 860,000 Croats aged above 60 could be inoculated with a fourth dose against coronavirus.