[ad_1]
President Gitanas Nausėda says he is ready to get vaccinated with AstraZeneca when it is his turn.
“If anyone has any doubts about the reliability of the AstraZeneca vaccine, I am ready, when it is my turn, to receive the Astra Zeneca vaccine,” the president told reporters in Kaunas on Monday.
On Monday, G. Nausėda visited the vaccination center set up in the ice palace.
“I am glad that our older adults, who are just in this stage (of vaccination), had to talk to several people today, trust the vaccine, wait in line from the seventh morning, although the center itself opens at 8 o’clock, “he added. G. Nausėda pointed out.
Photo by Vilmantas Raupelis
He also recognized that “the names of one or another vaccine are the subject of some debate.”
The British and Swedish AstraZeneca vaccine has been the subject of much public debate about side effects, although European and Lithuanian authorities emphasize that the vaccine can be used in older people and that other vaccines also cause side effects.
Photo by Justina Lasauskaitė
Focus on vaccination
The head of state who visited Kaunas said that the information campaign on vaccination against the coronavirus should be more active.
“Today the information campaign, which is not available to municipalities but to the central government, must be more active, more people-oriented and non-people must seek information, information must find people. Municipalities certainly have a very important role to play in the vaccination process, as they will bear most of the burden of vaccination, but that does not mean that the central government has no responsibilities. G. Nausėda said during his visit to Kaunas Vaccination Center.
“We have to find all the people who want to be vaccinated, and they don’t have to look for us themselves,” said the head of state.
He added that the vaccine developed by Johnson & Johnson is being completed in the United States.
“Europe should probably get a license in March and probably won’t have to wait long for the supply,” said G. Nausėda.
According to the president, the meetings of the European Council with the European Commission speak of the need to negotiate with producers in such a way that they do not think of other alternatives, only to comply with existing obligations.
When asked how the number of coronavirus cases is decreasing, G. Nausėda emphasized that vaccination is a reliable tool against coronavirus.
We have to find all the people who want to get vaccinated and they don’t have to look for ourselves.
“Until we talk about quarantine only, we have no magic recipes here. We must give the clear answer: let’s toughen up, relax the quarantine, we will probably have the third, fourth and fifth waves of the pandemic. We will count when we open, when we close again. Basically, a reliable instrument is vaccination, mass vaccination, ”said G. Nausėda.
“It may not be a panacea, varieties are spreading today and the longer we delay, the more varieties there may be, but we must do what we can. It is imperative to do this as soon as possible, and only then, as the example of Israel shows, will we be able to talk about opening businesses in a sustainable, gradual way, opening sports centers, opening life. “This will not be possible without a massive vaccination,” said the president.
Photo by Justina Lasauskaitė
On the subject of EVS
G. Nausėda also stated that the Government should focus on managing the coronavirus crisis, rather than intensifying discussions on Lithuania’s representation in the European Council.
According to the head of the country, the issues on the government’s agenda should be quarantine, vaccination and helping people keep their jobs, not whether the prime minister should go to European Union summits instead of the president. .
“We have so many questions today and the government has so many problems: quarantine, vaccination and the period after the pandemic or quarantine, how will we help open our businesses, how will we help people keep jobs or find new jobs, places if some businesses. they stop, ”G. Nausėda told reporters.
“Raising this issue of representation in the European Council today is a bit unacceptable and intolerable from the point of view of current affairs, not even from the point of view of the Constitution, but from the issues we are dealing with today.” said the president.
Mr. Nausėda said that he would not like to think that the issue is being artificially dreamed up to divert attention from existing problems.
“I would not like to think that this issue is being escalated specifically just to divert attention from the issues that are very relevant today and we are far from doing everything we can to solve them,” he said.
The ruling conservatives are considering passing a law in the Seimas that provides for Lithuania to be represented in the European Council not by the president but by the prime minister.
Office of the President of the Republic of Lithuania. Photo of Dačkus
The initiators affirm that the issues discussed at the summits are related to the competence of the Government, there is no possibility of ensuring that the President adheres to the mandate approved by the Seimas and the Government, and the President does not participate in European parties.
Critics of the initiative say the conservatives apply double standards because they have given Dalia Grybauskaitė their support for the European Council, the president has constitutional powers to address key foreign policy issues and represent the state, and Nausėda was mandated by the nation when he defeated I Šimonytė in the presidential elections.
[ad_2]
