Kumanovo, 12 January 2026 (MIA) — Health care workers as well as medical and dental students will soon be able to get vaccinated with the hepatitis B vaccine free of charge, after the Ministry of Health signed Monday an agreement with the Public Health Institute to donate 7,500 vaccine doses of the three-dose shot for 2,500 healthcare workers, MIA's Kumanovo correspondent reports.

Getting vaccinated against hepatitis B will reduce health risks posed by potential exposure to the virus at work and increase safety both for medical workers and patients, Minister of Health Azir Aliu told a press conference Monday.

The 7,500 vaccine doses against hepatitis B are worth USD 123,450, Aliu said.

He urged health care workers to register for the vaccine via the Ministry of Health website in the next 10 days, after which vaccination will begin at public health centers across the country.

Public Health Institute director Marija Andonovska said medical staff should get the hepatitis B vaccine — which prevents a serious liver disease caused by the hepatitis B virus, protecting against infection that can lead to severe liver damage, liver failure and liver cancer — as the virus spreads via infected blood and other bodily fluids and needle-stick injuries are a key transmission route.

Andonovska also cited World Health Organization data showing approximately 254 million people were living with chronic hepatitis B infection in 2022, and hepatitis B resulted in an estimated 1.1 million deaths in 2022.

"Due to ongoing occupational exposure to blood and bodily fluids, healthcare workers are at increased risk for hepatitis B virus infections. The vaccine is mandatory in our country, but it was introduced in 2004 so there are generations that are not covered by the mandatory immunization," Andonovska said, adding that medical students, too, were at risk of contracting the bloodborne pathogen.

She said the out-of-pocket cost for the vaccine was Mden 6,000, which some medical workers had to pay on their own in the past. 

In response to a reporter's question, Andonovska cited official data saying the country's hepatitis B vaccination rate was 91.3% in 2024. However, she added, there were older people who had not been vaccinated and there was "a so-called residual risk of hepatitis B" viral infection. mr/