Coronavirus update, June 21, 2021: Vaccination to be available without prior registration as of mid-July

Vaccination to be available for unregistered as of mid-July

The Czech Health Ministry plans to enable the Covid-19 vaccination of people without their previous registration for a jab as of the second half of July, Minister Adam Vojtěch said in a televised debate, speaking about the "opening of the doors" of local vaccination centers. The enabling of vaccination of those who turn up in a vaccination center without previous registration, which is a condition now, will be one of the ways to address new vaccine-seekers after a half of the population will have received one dose of a Covid vaccine at least, Vojtěch said. The goal is to have 70 percent of inhabitants vaccinated and thereby secure the collective immunity effect will be more difficult to achieve, he said.

Children 12 and up can get vaccinated against Covid as of July 1

Children aged 12–15 can register for Covid-19 vaccination as of July 1, PM Andrej Babis has written on social networks, adding that a pediatrician will be in vaccination centers and the children will be accompanied there by their legal representatives, most often parents. Health Minister Adam Vojtěch previously said vaccination for this age group would open in September.

Health Ministry working on acknowledging U.S. vaccinations

The Czech Health Ministry is taking steps for people's vaccination in the U.S. and other states to be acknowledged in the Czech Republic. The problem rests not in the vaccination as such, but in defining the way people should prove it, Vojtěch said. A bilateral agreement between the EU and the U.S. would be most advantageous in this respect, but its signing is rather unrealistic, he said.

General practitioners may start getting Pfizer vaccine

Health Minister Adam Vojtěch wants general practitioners to start receiving supplies of the most used vaccine, Pfizer/BioNTech, as of September. Until now, Pfizer/BioNTech has been supplied only to vaccination centers due to its laborious system of distribution. Physicians so far have been getting vaccince from Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson.

Covid tests reimbursement to continue in July

The current mechanism for reimbursing tests by health insurance companies should also apply in July, and people should be entitled to four antigen tests and two more accurate PCR tests per month. Health Minister Adam Vojtěch announced on Twitter.

Masks may replace respirators as of July 1

Health Minister Adam Vojtěch said that as a result of the epidemic slowdown, the state is considering replacing the respirator duty, which is in effect in public transport means among other places, with the duty to wear surgical face masks as of July 1. He said the state of pandemic alert, which enables the government to regulate selected sectors, should last until September.

Minister orders audit over Covid restrictions canceled by court

Health Minister Adam Vojtěch has ordered an internal audit at the ministry to check the way it previously introduced anti-Covid restrictions, out of which 17 were eventually called unlawful and canceled by courts, he said on Czech Television. Based on the audit results, Vojtěch would possibly take further steps, he said. He said he also wants to know how the individual measures' harmony with law was assessed.

He was health minister from December 2017 to September 2020 and returned to the post last month.

Health Minister wants to set school rules for September

By the end of June, which is the end of the school year, Vojtěch plans to specify the rules for children to return to schools after the holidays in September. He said he wants to organize three waves of testing on the first several days of September, combining PCR tests with top-quality antigen tests.  According to Vojtěch, only three regions can be managed using the PCR method alone, so he wants to combine these tests with antigenic tests that have passed quality tests in Germany.

Czechs can go on holiday without restrictions to Bulgaria and Croatia

Czech citizens can enter Croatia under the same conditions as before the outbreak of Covid-19 as of June 18. The recommendation to report your entry into Croatia in advance via the form on the relevant website remains valid. From Jun 16, Czech citizens can travel to Bulgaria without any restrictions, such as without the need to submit a certificate of Covid-19, a vaccination certificate or PCR or an antigen test with a negative result.

 No deaths reported over the weekend, one district has no new cases

Some numbers are starting to rise again slowly, but the pandemic is still receding. On Sunday, there were 57 new Covid cases in the Czech Republic, 16 more than last week. The reproduction number R, showing how fast the virus spreads, has risen to 0.84. It was at 0.65 on June 16. The number of new cases per 100,000 people in the Czech Republic remained at nine. The worst situation remains in the Český Krumlov district of South Bohemia, with 44 infected people per 100,000 inhabitants. On the contrary, the Jeseník district in Moravia-Silesia has not registered any infected people in the last seven days. No deaths from Covid 19 reported for June 19 or 20, but this figure may be revised later in the week.

Latest Covid-19 data from the Czech Ministry of Health (June 21, 2021)

Source: onemocneni-aktualne.mzcr.cz/covid-19