STA, 5 February 2021 - More than a month after Slovenia launched vaccination against SARS-CoV-2, prioritising the elderly, the number of hospitalisations has decreased. Elderly care homes report that those who were infected between jabs only suffered mild or no symptoms.
Slovenia started vaccinating the elderly in care homes first, as care homes recorded frequent outbreaks and suffered the most fatalities.
By today, nearly 9,500 elderly care home residents received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. A total of nearly 20,000 institutional care users have received at least one jab by now, the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities has told the STA.
Immunity develops in a specific period after the second dose, seven days after the second jab for the Pfizer/BionTech vaccine and a fortnight for the Moderna vaccine, which have been the two most widely used vaccines in Slovenia.
The country has also recently received the first batch of a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca, which is, however, recommended for a younger population. Elderly care home residents are on average older than 80.
Many homes reported high shares of residents getting infected between jabs. However, these infections were much less severe, with most patients showing only mild symptoms or none at all. Most importantly, none of those who were infected showed severe symptoms.
Apart from the elderly, nursing home and hospital staff are also being vaccinated in Slovenia at the moment. UKC Ljubljana, the country's biggest hospital, has reported that staff had gotten infected between doses, all suffering mild symptoms or none at all.
The latest data on COVID and Slovenia
