After renewing the currently suspended vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19, it is being considered to allow everyone who wants to be vaccinated, without a priority order, says the Minister of Health Arūnas Dulkys.
The minister told LRT radio on Thursday that he expects favorable decisions from the European Medicines Agency regarding this vaccine "in the next few days or hours", but admitted that European countries, including Lithuania, have suffered a "strong reputational blow" due to the suspension of vaccination with this vaccine.
"Currently, since our vaccination strategy and all logistics were based only on vaccinating priority groups, we will probably now reconsider this vaccine as well, maybe we will change those decisions and, maybe, we will allow those who simply want to be vaccinated. But the final decisions have not been made here yet," said A. Dulkys, when asked how he would seek to restore his reputation with this vaccine.
According to him, with reports of vaccination suspensions pouring in from Europe, the reputation of this vaccine "has already been destroyed and we either way or should have dealt with that issue."
"I just want to repeat, When such countries as France, Germany, Spain, Italy stop, I can no longer imagine what kind of authority an expert must have in Lithuania who could convince that doubting person to vaccinate with AstraZeneca," he said.
"I think there was no good decision, there was a bad and worse decision," added A. Dulkys.
Lithuania followed the example of a dozen other European Union countries by suspending vaccination against the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday evening, although earlier both A. Dulkys and the Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said that they are not going to do that.
Vaccination has been suspended until the European Medicines Agency provides its final conclusions on the safety of the vaccine, which the agency will decide on Thursday.
The decision was made following the recommendation of the State Medicines Control Service, after it received three reports of blood clots that occurred after vaccination, but the service says it has no evidence that the ailments were caused by the vaccine.
Author Ignas Jačauskas
