Is it true that Croatia bans vaccines?

Information has circulated online that Croatia is banning vaccines because, according to the president, Croatians have been vaccinated enough. We decided to check what the Croatian president actually said and whether such information is true.

Claim that Croatia has banned vaccines wide dispersed in social networks and messengers. To the President of Croatia Zoran Milanovic attributed to the statement that “We have vaccinated enough. And everyone knows it. We won’t inject more than 50% - let them surround us with a fence with barbed wire.” To confirm these words of the president, it is used video from his interview. Users disseminating this information express words of support to the European leader and approve of his action, his called on the Internet as the “president of a healthy person.” This story has spread not only in Russian-speaking segment of the Internet, but also on English language.

To understand what the Croatian leader actually said, let's turn to the national media. "Evening newspaper" leads full transcript of the president's words. The material was published under the headline “There is no talk of eradicating the virus.” Milanovic does condemn the culture of global safety and the attempt to build a disease-free society, blaming the media for spreading panic. He says there are enough vaccines in the country and there are enough for everyone who wants one. A vaccination rate of 50% seems to him sufficient not to introduce new restrictions, and not as a “ceiling” of vaccination for the population. The President said that in terms of restrictive measures, he would like to focus on Sweden, and not on Australia and Japan with “obsessive quarantine measures and isolation.” Thus, there is no evidence of a stop to the vaccination campaign in the country. Moreover, the interview was published on September 10, and, as you can see from authoritative resources with statistical data, vaccination in the country continues.

Moreover, recently Croatia opened so-called vaccine tours: “In Croatia, they are vaccinated with two-component vaccines Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and one-component Johnson & Johnson / Janssen,” the tour price includes flights and transfers, hotel accommodation with meals, registration for vaccination, the vaccination itself and medical insurance for all days of stay in the country.

To complete the picture, a few more facts should be noted. Firstly, Zoran Milanovic is not an anti-vaxxer and never has been. The Croatian President himself vaccinated back on January 7, 2021, then calling on the nation to follow his example: “I urge everyone who wants, as well as those who do not want or doubt, to get vaccinated, because the vaccine was not made on the knee, but went through a very strict approval process, and it definitely helps. <…> People, get vaccinated, it’s better than getting sick. It’s not just not as bad, but better.”

Secondly, on the official website of the Croatian Ministry of Health there is no information, confirming the cessation of vaccination. Moreover, as of October 4, the latest news on the resource is statement Minister of Health that “the main goal today is to limit the spread of the virus as much as possible.” And on the main page of the website dedicated to the situation with the virus in the country, hanging banner calling for vaccination.

Thirdly, Croatia is not a presidential, but a parliamentary republic, therefore the sole decision of the president can't neither start nor cancel vaccination. 

Thus, the words of Croatian President Zoran Milanovic were translated incorrectly, which completely distorted the meaning of his speech. Anti-vaxxers used the incorrect translation as evidence of support for their position from the leaders of European countries. However, this is not true.

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?

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