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“I don’t see why the heads of state might not want to hear about the situation first-hand. There is a refusal to meet, but these are no longer my decisions, the government will definitely make those decisions about the purchase of vaccines, especially since it involves certain economic obligations, in any case even the decisions of the State Defense Council would have been advisory., – Veryga said at a press conference on Monday.
The European Commission has signed a pre-purchase agreement with the British and Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, which plans to be one of the first to start production.
According to Mr. Veryga, by signing the contract, the parties were able to decide whether they wanted to stay or withdraw from the purchase. Lithuania has decided not to withdraw from the AstraZeneca purchase.
When making this purchase, the proportion of vaccine doses to the country is determined by the population and undertakes to buy this quantity.
According to A. Veryga, when the European Commission negotiates with other potential vaccine manufacturers, it is important to decide what strategy Lithuania will follow.
“The country must decide whether to diversify the purchase of vaccines, if it sets proportions for one or the other, or if it decides to participate in the purchase of all vaccines, of which there are currently seven, and do the finances,” said the minister.
“There are many risks: it is possible that, in theory, all those vaccines are approved as effective and then we would have to buy them all without withdrawing from the purchases. If we refuse to buy a vaccine, it may happen that the vaccine we have rejected is recognized as effective, and then we simply would not have an effective vaccine, “he said.
Also, according to A. Veryga, it is possible that by committing to buy all the vaccines, the country will buy more than the population has and will then have to decide where to place them.
Consequently, the Minister emphasized that this is due to important financial commitments and strategic decisions that go beyond the competence of the Ministry of Health.
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