Three months after the outbreak of the swine flu epidemic in Bulgaria came to an end the Bulgarian Health Ministry is set to start a vaccination program.

From March 1 the Ministry will provide 80 000 doses for 40 000 people in the ‘high risk’ groups including babies over 6 months of age with certain illnesses, pregnant women and medical personnel.

Chief Health Inspector Tencho Tenev reported that if people are vaccinated they should be protected from the virus next winter too. The Health Ministry added that it the moral obligation of all doctors to recommend the immunization to people who are in the high risk groups.

Bulgaria’s chief epidemiologist, Dr. Angel Kunchev, recently stated that a second wave of the A(H1N1) virus is likely to hit the country as the weather warms up in the Spring.