The flu jab is the only protection against severe flu, and the delay in vaccine deliveries to Bulgaria is not yet fatal, epidemiologist Prof Angel Kunchev, a former chief state health inspector, told Bulgarian National Radio (BNR).
Immunity builds up about 20 days after vaccination, and the best months to get the jab are October, November and December, Kunchev said.
Bulgaria expects about 450,000 vaccines for adults and 50,790 doses for children this year. One manufacturer has warned Bulgaria that vaccines for the oldest people will not be available until January 2027 at the earliest.
"The big question is how Greece, Turkey and Austria can buy vaccines, while here they are missing," Kunchev said. He thinks manufacturers serve their biggest customers first. Greece uses many times more flu vaccines than Bulgaria.
Use of the jab in Bulgaria has been low for years, and in past seasons some doses went unused. Doses are good for one season only and cannot be carried over to the next, so importers carry the financial risk. The Health Ministry should use every option to get the amounts needed, Kunchev said.
Flu is not like the respiratory infections going around now, the epidemiologist said. People cannot just carry on with their day. It brings a high fever, aches and weakness across the whole body. In older people, complications are common: pneumonia, coughing and sometimes harm to other systems in the body.
The vaccine does not protect against all respiratory infections, but it cuts the risk of severe complications. It aims to protect adults and children from serious illness and from danger to their lives.
"If you expect that after getting the jab nothing will catch you all season, that cannot happen," Kunchev warned.
In a flu epidemic in Bulgaria, hundreds of thousands of people fall ill over two to three weeks, and the health system comes under heavy strain. Between 10% and 15% of emergency service staff have been off sick, which makes it harder to treat patients.
One option is for the state to arrange imports of leftover doses from other countries, as it has done in earlier years, usually in small amounts. Whether such imports are possible will only become clear in December.