Slovenia has proposed that Croatia facilitate border crossing for Slovenians who have been inoculated with only one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine and are awaiting a second jab, as the coronavirus epidemic in Slovenia continues abating.

Slovenia considers people who have received one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine immune and does not require a negative test from people entering the country.

“We discussed the matter with our Croatian colleagues last week, but we still don’t have a definitive answer,” leading Slovenian infectious disease specialist Mateja Logar said in answer to questions at a press conference in Ljubljana on Monday.

There is a great interest among the Slovenian public in such an arrangement because many of them traditionally spend their summer holidays on the Croatian Adriatic coast. Unless a bilateral agreement is reached, Slovenians who receive their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the coming days will have to wait 12 weeks, or nearly three months, for their second dose, which could spoil their holiday plans.

Although some countries are shortening the time between two doses to four weeks, which is also permitted by the manufacturer, Slovenia sticks to the 12-week rule because the immune response is much stronger then, Logar said, adding that they are still awaiting a positive answer from Croatia.

In the last 24 hours, only 113 new coronavirus cases have been reported in Slovenia, and three persons have died from the consequences of COVID-19, the government said.

The average daily number of new infections has dropped to 455, and the number of active cases now stands at 7,450. The number of hospitalised patients infected with the novel virus has fallen to 407.

“A third of all hospitalisations in Slovenia relates to COVID-19 patients, and most of these people could have already been vaccinated,” Logar said while speaking of the importance of vaccination as the main strategy for overcoming this public health crisis.