Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Friday that Croatia should have about one million COVID-19 vaccine doses by 1 May, which is "somewhat slower than expected," and that it was a pity the country had ordered the most from AstraZeneca, which has a slow delivery.

Speaking to Croatian national broadcaster HRT, he said the government “has ordered 6.8 million doses so far and about 430,000 have arrived.”

He said delivery problems were due to huge orders from drug companies, not just from the EU but other countries as well.

Plenkovic said that during his visit to Brussels, he said Croatia was strongly interested in delivery picking up because, as a tourist country, it wished to start the summer season with as many Croatians vaccinated as possible as well as to have mechanisms at the EU level providing for safe freedom of movement.

He said that next week the European Commission would propose a certificate for three categories of citizens – those vaccinated, those with a negative test and those recovered from COVID.

No cause and effect for now between 91-year-old’s death and vaccine

The prime minister also commented on some countries’ suspension of inoculation with the AstraZeneca vaccine following reports of deaths and the death of a 91-year-old woman in Croatia after receiving a shot.

He said that as soon as he saw the news about the woman, he contacted Health Minister Vili Beros, who had contacted the director of Croatia’s Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Services (HALMED).

Plenkovic said that according to the information available, one could not see any cause and effect between the woman’s death and the AstraZeneca shot. But, he added, it is still being looked into and the European Medicines Agency will be consulted.

He said Croatia would not suspend inoculation with the AstraZeneca vaccine for the time being, adding that such decisions must be made by professionals and that this was no political voluntarism.

“As I understood from the words of the director of the HZJZ (Croatian Institute of Public Health), it’s not correct that 30% of people, out of fear, no longer wish to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine,” he said.

HALMED looking into death of woman who received AstraZeneca shot

HALMED said on Friday it was looking into a 7 March report of a fatal pulmonary embolism in a 91-year-old woman three days after she received a shot of AstraZeneca.

To date, HALMED said, it has received no report of suspicion of fatal side effects established to have been linked to a COVID-19 vaccine.