Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Wednesday repeated it was important that people get vaccinated against COVID for the sake of saving the tourist season, saying there were enough vaccines available for all. Plenkovic also said he could agree with President Milanovic's idea of lifting the existing COVID restrictions after the summer.

“Our goal is to increase the rate of vaccination in order to reduce the possibility COVID-19 mortality to the lowest level possible,” Plenkovic he told the press, adding that it was the only way for the world to defend itself from the pandemic in the long term.

“We have the protection tools but are not protecting ourselves,” he said, adding he saw no reason to trust social media instead of qualified experts and doctors.

“There is an abundance of vaccines. The European Commission has ordered for 2022 and 2023 1.8 billion doses from Pfizer alone,” Plenkovic said.

This year, Croatia will receive almost eight million doses, he said.

Plenkovic said he would do everything to encourage people to get vaccinated, adding that “vaccination won’t be an exercise for one summer, as it’s possible that we will have to get booster shots.”

He said he could agree with President Milanovic that all COVID restrictions should be lifted after the tourist season is over.

“If we succeed in not having the tourist season end on August 5 or 15, I’d like it to last until the end of August and then in September, October, November, and December so that we can welcome well-informed people, our traditional guests who won’t waver if there is some drama.”

Plenkovic said this tourist season was better than the last and that tourists from neighbouring countries wished to come to Croatia.

But, he warned, “if hotspots appear and there is a stampede, things can change in 48 hours, quarantines and restrictions can be introduced because no one wants their citizens to spread the infection back home.”