The mayor of Marijampolė, who has presented his vaccination procedure: we are publicly silent

Mayor of Marijampolė: “We have just combined two wishes”

According to the mayor of Marijampolė, the city has had problems with vaccinating the elderly for some time, because the elderly did not agree to be vaccinated with AstraZeneca vaccines:

“It just came to our attention then. The task we felt, both from the ministry and at the national level, was to reach the right number of people. We used many forms of invitation, connected persuasions. This campaign was designed to attract older people who are they have left their phone numbers or changed. They don’t read Soc. Not everyone has media and newspapers, “says the mayor of Marijampolė to Aurelijus Bezekavičius in LNK.

Thus was born the idea that their family members can reach them better: “We are very aware that the youngest want to be vaccinated with Pfizer, and it is not possible to do it in our municipality out of priority. It’s just that we’ve brought these two desires together and the result is great: we’ve been able to attract older people, a really solid age that we probably wouldn’t have reached otherwise, “says Isoda.

The vaccination process: what is not talked about enough in public?

The younger ones, says the mayor, were motivated to persuade the older ones because that way they could get vaccinated themselves. Both the ancestors and the relatives who brought them had the opportunity to be vaccinated with the long-awaited Pfizer vaccine. The campaign, according to the city manager, yielded even more than expected. However, according to the mayor, there is very little public talk about how much vaccination processes differ when it comes to Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccines:

“In our specific case in Marijampolė, we offered AstraZeneca twenty priorities for everyone, now we vaccinate the 55+ group, all large companies with more than 100 employees, all civil servants, elderly people, people with chronic diseases were interviewed. On the third day we vaccinate a very wide circle of people, but a maximum of 300 people can be vaccinated. I really think we already have to think about offering AstraZeneca to everyone. Now is the only time this vaccine may be in demand. “

Prime Minister criticizes arbitrariness, Mayor offers more creativity

The Passport of Opportunity, Isoda says, is becoming a huge motivation for people to agree to get vaccinated with any vaccine, so there is a rush to make effective use of AstraZeneca vaccine residues until there is a shortage of other vaccines. : “If we wait for Pfizer to reach the age groups 45+, 55+ and under: AstraZeneca will definitely be chosen by an absolute minority of our population.”

Marijampolė is not the only municipality in Lithuania that has introduced its own vaccination procedure. Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė describes these initiatives as arbitrariness. However, the mayor says he has not received a severe sentence from the country’s authorities:

The minister has publicly acknowledged, seen and stated that there is no desire to track down and punish someone by letter. I believe that we are all interested in vaccinating as many people as possible, both the Prime Minister and the municipalities ”. According to the mayor of Marijampolė, the same rules do not work for different municipalities, and the vaccination process must be viewed creatively. .