The health ministry has urged doctors to contact patients over the age of 60 who have not yet registered for a coronavirus vaccine in order to encourage them to do so. With less than 60% of Poles aged over 80 having received the jab, there are concerns about vaccination rates among the elderly.
In a letter addressed to all basic health care units, the health minister, Adam Niedzielski, appealed to general practitioners to “undertake actions aiming at encouraging elderly people to vaccinate against COVID-19”, reports Gazeta.pl.
The minister explained to the doctors how they can generate lists of their patients who have not registered for the jab or who have registered but not yet received it. The former should be informed of its benefits, while the latter should be encouraged and helped to find an earlier appointment.
Uruchomiliśmy już możliwość generowania przez lekarzy poz list osób niezaszczepionych na swoich listach w wieku 60+. Lekarze rodzinni mają już narzędzie wskazujące pacjentów, których wątpliwości bądź niedogodności trzeba rozwiązywać. Przed nami także kampania profrekfencyjna.
— Adam Niedzielski (@a_niedzielski) May 10, 2021
“General practitioners take care of our health on the basic level, they are closest to the patients and know them,” said health ministry spokesman Wojciech Andrusiewicz. “Whole families come to be treated by the same GP, and his role is to be concerned with their health.”
In response to the letter, some doctors pointed out that chasing up large numbers of patients in this way would detract from their other work. “It will curb the number of patients that can be [seen],” a doctor told Gazeta.pl.
At one hospital in central Poland, of 2,700 patients registered for Covid vaccines 600 have not yet received them, reports Wirtualna Polska. In theory doctors should now reach out to all of them, as well as others who have not yet registered.
All 31 million adults in Poland are now eligible to register for Covid vaccines. However, a majority, around 19 million, still have not done so.
According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the overall vaccination rate in Poland is comparable to the average in the European Union. However, when it comes to vaccination of those aged over 80, Poland is behind other countries in the EU and European Economic Area.
Only 57% of people in this age group have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine in Poland, meaning the country ranks only 20th out of 25 in the report. The median value for all countries is 78%.
Some of the over 70s in Poland may not have registered due to digital exclusion, Małgorzata Stokowska-Wojda, a doctor from western Poland, told Onet. She says that many in this age group might be willing to get vaccinated but are unable to register through the existing system.
“Most often it concerns people who live on their own or where there is no younger relative who could help out,” says Stokowska-Wojda.
The prime minister’s chief Covid advisor recently suggested that it may be necessary to make coronavirus vaccines obligatory, though he admitted that this would be hard to enforce. Yesterday, Niedzielski told Polsat News that they are “not considering compulsory vaccinations at the moment”.
Main image credit: Bicanski on Pixnio
Agnieszka Wądołowska is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She has previously worked for Gazeta.pl and Tokfm.pl and contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza, Wysokie Obcasy, Duży Format, Midrasz and Kultura Liberalna
