due to the limited amount of incinerators for disposing of unusable doses. as of august 2022, due to the low vaccine uptake, over 1,3 million vaccine doses had been declared unusable, with 1,6 million expected to have the same fate by the end of the year. by december 2022, the number of discarded or expected to be discarded vaccines exceeded 2 million. in early 2023, the health authorities confirmed that bulgaria is in favor of cancelling the european commission's contract with pfizer/biontech or would support an approach to the ordering of vaccines where the deliveries reflect the specific requests of each country. bulgaria's position regarding the potential issues surrounding an excess of vaccines has been seen as being in alignment with that of poland. vaccines donated or sold to other countries, as of 14 april 2022 vaccinedosesrecipient countrytype of agreement oxford–astrazeneca270 000bangladeshdonation oxford–astrazeneca172 500bhutandonation oxford–astrazeneca50 000bosnia and herzegovinadonation pfizer–biontech258 570bosnia and herzegovinadonation oxford–astrazeneca2 830 400irandonation pfizer–biontech51 480north macedoniadonation moderna100 000norwayreselling rollout schedule and vaccine priority groups the national vaccination plan was unveiled in early december 2020 and includes five phases. for the purpose of the vaccination campaign, the country was subdivided into six regions (vratsa, veliko tarnovo, varna, bourgas, plovdiv, and sofia). kostadin angelov, the then health minister, characterized it as a "dynamic plan" that could render itself to change in accordance with the situation and stated that bulgaria drew on who guidance as well as the vaccination plans of germany, france, italy, britain, and a number of us states, while also taking into account the specific conditions pertaining to bulgarian health care, territory and infrastructure. a national vaccination operational headquarters, chaired by krasimir gigov, the general director of the bulgarian red cross, was also established. in january 2021, national operational headquarters for the fight against the coronavirus chairman ventsislav mutafchiyski specified that election commission members for the upcoming elections will also be considered priority groups for vaccinations. in february 2021, it was confirmed that prosecutors, legal investigators and their staff fall within phase 3 of the vaccination plan. in the same month the national vaccination plan was further amended to allow for non-priority individuals to receive vaccines even prior to all the priority targets being covered, as long as certain conditions are observed. the issue of vaccine hesitancy in bulgaria is believed to have played a part in the structuring of the plan. todor kantardzhiev stated in a june 2021 interview that if medical personnel had not been prioritized as part of the first phase, many hospitals would not have been able to perform their functions during the spring of 2021. order priority group number eligible (estimated) 1 medical personnel, pharmacists, dentists as well as members of staff in these fields who have assistant functions 243 600 2 staff and customers of social institutions, pedagogical specialists, people working on mink farms 112 080 3 people who are in charge of guaranteeing that activities essential for public life are able to take place not specified, will be based on lists compiled in advance 4 all those 65 years of age and over, and clinically vulnerable individuals due to underlying conditions, including immunocompromised and with reduced immunity 1.8 million 5 vulnerable groups from the population due to high epidemiological risk of infection attributable to their way of life not specified, will be based on lists compiled in advance challenges and logistics on 5 december 2020, the first two ultracold freezers suitable for the storage of the pfizer–biontech covid-19 vaccine in accordance with the temperature requirements were installed at the center of infectious and parasitic diseases in the capital. on 7 december, bourgas became the second city in the country equipped with such a refrigerator, followed by plovdiv on 9 december and varna on the 18th. each freezer can hold more than 100,000 vaccine doses. the center of infectious and parasitic diseases serves as the main hub for the distribution of the vaccines to the regional health inspectorates. in december 2021, 69 temporary vaccination points were set up throughout the country for the administering of the pediatric vaccine doses (for children aged from 5 to 11), with sofia, plovdiv and veliko tarnovo being the hubs for the initial deliveries. pirogov hospital's immunization center saw the most vaccinations of any medical establishment for the year 2021, with over 50,000 people choosing to be vaccinated there and approximately 75,000 doses administered. a covid-19 vaccination point at the university hospital st. ivan rilski in sofia, the first place in the country to offer 24-hour vaccinations. the first vaccination site in the country was opened on 15 december 2020, being located in sofia. on 5 january 2021, four mobile units were set up, so that elderly people living in care homes in sofia could be vaccinated in their places of residence. over 40 such vaccination units were expected to cover the whole country. by 20 september 2021, the mobile vaccination units had vaccinated 4274 people who were with impaired mobility or were residing in far flung or isolated places, with 3702 of them with a completed vaccination cycle. as of 1 march 2022, a total of 25,604 people had been vaccinated by members of mobile units, with burgas province leading the way with 5648. as of 18 february 2021, 5 vaccination sites were available at pirogov hospital in the capital, with the medical facility also being in a position to provide 2 additional mobile units. the total number of vaccination points for the whole country had reached 352 by 23 february 2021. the first 24-hour vaccination center in the country began operating in sofia on 21 february 2021, just outside the university hospital st. ivan rilski, followed by one in plovdiv on 23 february. mobile vaccination points were positioned at the entrances of a few national parks in sofia on 29 and 30 may 2021, allowing all willing bulgarians to receive vaccines, with the practice continuing in sofia and other cities in the next month. the regional health inspectorate of plovdiv established open air vaccination sites in the stolipinovo district from 12 june 2021. between 8 and 13 june 2021, vaccinations were offered in a number of varna's shopping malls. a mobile vaccination point inside a bus that is able to accommodate two people at the same time began doing the rounds in sofia on 16 june 2021. on 19 and 20 june 2021, some of the malls in the capital city hosted mobile vaccination sites, with this practice resuming during the next weekend. on 7 september 2021, at the insistence of sofia mayor yordanka fandakova, a vaccination point was opened at the ndk metro station. since then, vaccinations have also been offered at a number of other sites within the sofia metro. in september 2021, a mobile vaccination point was opened at the university of national and world economy. in october 2021, a mobile vaccination point was set up at sofia airport. in december 2021, over 60 vaccination points were established for the administering of pediatric doses, with sofia, plovdiv and veliko tarnovo being the three arrival points for their distribution to the whole country. pirogov hospital's immunization center saw the most vaccinations of any medical establishment for the year 2021, with over 50,000 people choosing to be vaccinated there and approximately 75,000 doses administered. due to a seriously waning interest in the vaccinations and the government's decision to lift the emergency epidemiological situation on 1 april 2022, the number of available vaccination points in the country was significantly reduced during the spring and summer of 2022. the military medical academy in sofia where former head of the national operational headquarters for the fight against covid-19 in bulgaria ventsislav mutafchiyski has personally administered vaccines. an arrow guiding the people towards a covid-19 vaccination point in the military medical academy in sofia during the first mass vaccinations. chronology and vaccination process bulgaria was allocated 9750 doses of the pfizer–biontech vaccine (sufficient for more than 4000 people) for december 2020 and they arrived in the country on the 26th of the month. just over 60,000 doses of this vaccine were expected to be available in january 2021. in early december 2020, president rumen radev vowed to get vaccinated only once there are no people waiting in line, while boyko borisov stated during the same month that he would have been eager to do it, but had antibodies after recovering from covid-19 in november 2020. on 27 july 2021, borisov had himself publicly vaccinated, receiving the first dose of the moderna vaccine, which has drawn praise. other prominent members of borisov's party also underwent the procedure. in august 2021, it was revealed that radev had been vaccinated as well. the first person to be vaccinated in bulgaria was then minister of health kostadin angelov, which occurred in the morning of 27 december in sofia. the second was bulgarian orthodox church bishop tikhon, followed by a doctor and a nurse. emanuela petkova was the first general practitioner to receive a vaccine. over 1500 people, mostly medical personnel, had been vaccinated by the evening of 28 december. by the late hours of 29 december, close to 3800 people had received a vaccine shot. by the first day of the new year, the number of vaccinated people had reached 4739. on 4 january 2021, the first batch of vaccines for this month arrived, numbering approximately 25,000 doses. unlike in the case of the first delivery of the vaccines, no specialized transport was needed for them, as they were received in boxes with dry ice, which could retain its properties for 5 days. these vaccines were to cover the remaining front line medical personnel from the first phase as well as some social workers, social service users and educators (phase two priority groups). as of 11 january 2021, 13,473 people had been vaccinated. the first moderna vaccine doses reached the country on 13 january 2021, numbering 2400 and designated for priority groups in sofia. тhe vaccinations with moderna commencеd on the next day, with obstetrician sofia yordanova being the first one to receive it. as of 13 january 2021, approximately 16,500 vaccine shots had been administered. as of 27 january 2021, bulgaria had vaccinated less than 35,000 citizens, which corresponded to 0.47 per 100 people, putting it in last place on a per capita basis among eu countries. between 27 january and 30 january 2021, some residents and staff of care homes for elderly people in sofia received their injections, though a substantial number opted out. as of 30 january 2021, 40,805 jabs had been administered, with 12,949 people receiving two doses. on 1 february 2021, educators and staff at kindergartens and schools began to be vaccinated. as of 4 february 2021, 94,920 vaccines had been delivered and 50,124 vaccine doses had been used, with 16,433 people having undergone the two-step vaccination process. on 6 february 2021, the first doses of oxford-astrazeneca, numbering 28,800, made their arrival in the country. they began to be put to use on the next day, kickstarting bulgaria's third phase of the vaccination campaign, which was to include members of the central electoral commission and other people in charge of the procedural matters concerning the elections. one of the first to receive it was 76-year-old ilina bineva, an employee at the pharmaceutical company bulbio. on 8 february 2021, the national vaccination operational headquarters announced that all of the so far delivered astrazeneca vaccines will be used for administering the first doses to people, in order to cover larger segments of the population and speed up the vaccination campaign. on 19 february 2021, in what was regarded as the beginning of the mass vaccinations, boyko borisov ordered (after discussions with members of the national vaccination operational headquarters, the national operational headquarters for the fight against the coronavirus, and the health minister) that "green corridors" be established alongside the fourth phase of the vaccination plan, allowing all adult citizens who do not fall within the priority groups to visit a vaccination point on saturday, sunday or the afternoon hours of working days without the need for a prior appointment and receive a first dose of the astrazeneca vaccine. the people who preferred one of the two approved rna vaccines were to register at the military medical academy and wait for a follow-up call once pfizer-biontech or moderna