Pharmacies in Bulgaria are due to get 129,000 doses of flu vaccine for open sale this autumn, not 100,000 as reported earlier, said Dr Kremena Parmakova, head of the communicable disease surveillance department at the Ministry of Health.
She also corrected the figures for the two national programmes. They have 546,000 doses, not about 500,000. The rise of 140,000 doses on last season refers to the original figure of about 500,000.
Earlier report: Flu vaccines come to pharmacies after 10 November, with 100,000 doses
Pharmacies have no flu vaccines for open sale at the moment. Dr Parmakova said the injectable vaccines are expected to reach them in the middle of November. Bogdan Kirilov, executive director of the Bulgarian Drug Agency (BDA), had said earlier that new supplies for pharmacies would arrive after 10 November.
The first figure was 70,000 doses planned from the start, plus another 30,000 that the BDA was checking whether it could redirect from another European country. The 70,000 is almost three times fewer than last season, when about 180,000 vaccines were on the open market and sold out fast. If the numbers do not rise, pharmacy vaccines could run out very quickly again.
So far, 75,000 nasal doses, which are given through the nose, and 150,000 injectable doses have been delivered, Dr Parmakova said. The injectable ones are for children and for people aged 65 and over. Of these, 50,000 are the high-dose vaccine Efluelda, which is free for people aged 75 and over. The rest are Vaxigrip: 84,000 for people over 65 and 16,000 for the children's programme. Another 50,000 doses are expected tomorrow.
A further 300,000 doses of Vaxigrip should reach the distributor's warehouses between 9 and 13 November. Because of this late delivery, part of the free vaccination will start later than usual.
Kirilov put the delay down to an unusual change in the make-up of this season's vaccines. For the first time, all three virus strains recommended by the World Health Organization had to be changed at once, and one of them was chosen later.
The Influvac vaccine will not be sold in Bulgarian pharmacies in the 2026/2027 season, the Bulgarian Pharmaceutical Union said. The maker is delivering less than planned, and all of it goes to the national programmes.
On 17 October, Dr Gergana Nikolova, deputy chair of the National Association of General Practitioners, warned that there were not enough vaccines. At that time, the delivery to pharmacies was also expected around the middle of November. GPs decide for themselves whom to vaccinate and whom to turn away.