Slovakia took 2 million doses of Sputnik Vt

Slovakia bought two million doses of the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, and the first shipment arrived in Košice in the evening on a special Slovak army plane, Prime Minister Igor Matovic announced at a press conference at Košice airport. .

Matovic is confident that the Russian side will abide by the agreement signed on Saturday and deliver the vaccine in adequate quantities on time. One million vaccines are expected to arrive in a month, and a second million Russian vaccines are expected to arrive in Slovakia in May and June, he said.

“Slovakia will be able to accelerate the vaccination rate by more than 40 percent in the coming months,” the prime minister said.

Asked by a journalist, Health Minister Marek Krajci said that vaccination with the Russian vaccine will be voluntary and can be administered without age restrictions. Vaccination should not start before two weeks.

They didn’t want to buy it, and then they did.

The acquisition of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine was rejected by the Slovak coalition government on February 19. Igor Matovic later announced that Slovakia was still buying a Russian vaccine. He said it had already agreed with Russia to supply 2 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine by the end of June. It is “a minor miracle” amid the world’s current vaccine shortage, he said.

Under current Slovak law, Health Minister Marek Krajcí can decide on the use of vaccines without government approval, which has happened here. The purchase of the Russian vaccine was also provided by the Slovak Public Health Agency (UVZ) with their support.

Young people are already being vaccinated

In Slovakia, the vaccination strategy was changed following a government decision on Sunday. In addition to the elderly, young people working in professions where they regularly come into contact with a greater number of people can now request vaccination against the coronavirus. According to a statement from the Slovak Ministry of Health, these are mainly clerks, taxi drivers, bus and tram drivers and younger passenger inspectors.

Those who work in these professions must first register and then receive the AstraZeneca vaccine when it comes to them. Until now, the vaccination campaign has mainly focused on the older generations, residents of social and retirement homes or health workers.

According to the justification of the Ministry, those who work in the aforementioned professions meet a large number of people every day and are therefore at serious risk of infection.

Preference will also be given in the vaccination campaign to those who have a high responsibility role in the performance of the economic and social tasks of the State. In this context, the Interior Ministry also urged the other ministries to draw up a list of those who should be vaccinated immediately based on these criteria.

In Slovakia until Monday approx. 306,000 people were vaccinated with the coronavirus vaccine, 134,000 of whom had already received the second dose. (MTI)