Three lawsuits were filed against Bulgaria over the failure of a vaccination campaign and the authorities’ response during the pandemic that led the country to have the highest COVID-19 death rate in Europe, Euractiv reported.
The complainants seek state responsibility for the failure to vaccinate people most vulnerable to COVID-19. One claim was submitted to the national courts and the second was filed with the European Committee of Social Rights of the Council of Europe. The third concerns the decision to close schools when free access to vaccines was available.
The reason for the lawsuits against the country is that thousands of Bulgarians with comorbidities – cardiovascular, diabetic, chronic respiratory or nephrological diseases or cancer – as well as people over 60 could have avoided serious illness and death if they had been vaccinated in time.
Although the lawsuits are directed at the actions and inactions of the previous administration, the current one would have to be held liable.
“Bulgaria did not ensure priority access to vaccines for these groups during the period when access to vaccines was restricted, between December 2020 and May 2021.”
According to the national vaccination plan adopted by the Boyko Borissov government on December 7, 2020, the elderly and chronically ill were put on the last possible fourth phase of vaccination. They were put after almost all categories of civil servants and medical staff and administered “by pre-prepared lists.” Adela Kachaunova, director of the legal protection programme of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, who filed the lawsuit, reported:
The vague wording used by the National Vaccination Plan allowed all kinds of people to be vaccinated before vulnerable people.
The court’s complaint emphasises that even after mass vaccination began, the authorities made no effort to create access for vulnerable citizens to the then scarce vaccines. As a result, 8,813 people aged 60 and over died from COVID-19 in Bulgaria between January and May 2021, accounting for more than 80 per cent of all COVID-19-related deaths during this period. The complaint alleges that Bulgaria has violated the right to life of these vulnerable people.
The collective complaint to the European Committee of Social Rights also refers to the lack of an adequate campaign to convince the public of the need for vaccination.
“Bulgaria has failed to fulfil its obligation to properly and adequately inform and educate people, especially the most vulnerable, about the importance of vaccination against COVID-19 as a means of protection.”
The third lawsuit against the Bulgarian government is also pending. It concerns a decision taken by the authorities in October 2021 to close schools and transfer students to online-only education. At that time, schools were the only closed public institution in Bulgaria, although the country already had free access to vaccines for the entire population.
As of today, 2,077,996 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in Bulgaria. According to the country’s official statistics, 38,665 people have died from Covid-19, the second highest number of deaths in the world after Peru.
Two Bulgarian children have also sued the Ministry of Health for improperly administering vaccines in December 2021.
The mistake made when vaccinating the two girls shows once again the chaotic process of vaccination, as well as the complete neglect of the children during this period.
In December 2021, a father took his two daughters, aged 13 and 17, for vaccinations. He was convinced of the benefits of vaccines; his family’s priority was to get certified, as both girls were due to travel and they wanted to go to school without daily testing.
They decided to go to the MIA hospital as it was closest to their home. The doctor asked the father which vaccine they preferred, explaining that Janssen was a single dose and the other vaccines required two doses. The father chose the one-dose vaccine.
However, when the doctor tried to issue a certificate after the vaccination, he discovered that the Janssen vaccine could not be administered to children. To conceal his mistake, he wrote in the logbook that the children had been vaccinated with the first dose of Pfizer vaccine. The error meant that the children could not receive a second dose of Pfizer vaccine as they had been fully immunised. Moreover, mixing of Janssen and Pfizer vaccines is prohibited.
A health inspectorate investigation followed. The incorrect information was removed from the registry, but the two children continued to be listed in the system as unvaccinated because the software did not allow the issuance of a certificate for children vaccinated with Janssen.
The Health Ministry also refused to address the problem, which led to the lawsuit. A Bulgarian court condemned the state for restricting the girls’ rights to free movement and family life.
