Since 2020, the Czech Republic has paid roughly 19bn Czech korunas ($910m) for COVID-19 vaccines. Under a contract signed at the start of the pandemic, which expires this year, it has received 41 million doses, but has used less than half of them.

The terms for securing vaccines for the next period are currently being negotiated, according to the Czech Ministry of Health. For this season, 900,000 doses will be available, and according to the ministry's data, less than a third of that number was used during the season now ending. The vaccination season runs from the start of September to the end of August the following year.

Due to declining interest in vaccination, some doses could not be used before their expiration dates. More than 15 million doses were needed in the first year the vaccine was widely available, but only one-fifth of that amount was needed the following year.

Between 2022 and 2023, interest fell by more than 80%, and in subsequent years it has declined by roughly one-third annually. This year, only 1,500 vaccine doses had been administered as of 26 July, since most people wait until the fall to get vaccinated.

(ceskenoviny, im)