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President Gitan Nausėda emphasized that even 80% of AstraZeneca’s goal was achieved. After reducing the planned quantities of vaccine for Lithuania in the first quarter, A. Šuksta says that it will all depend on further negotiations with the manufacturers.
“Today, if vaccines are delivered regularly, in the required quantities, 66 vaccination centers are ready to vaccinate all individuals according to the established goal. But we are completely dependent on the manufacturer. We believe that politicians from all countries will unite and resolve this situation with the producer at all levels (…). As the Chancellor of the Ministry also mentioned, it would be very daring to say that according to the figures available today, we could achieve the stated objectives, ”said a representative of Minister Arūnas Dulkis on BNS on Sunday.
On Friday, following a European Council meeting in which EU leaders discussed vaccines, AstraZeneca announced that its production of coronavirus vaccines in Europe would be “lower than initially expected” due to decreased capacity for production. This has caused outrage among EU countries.
A. Šuksta says this news is “really worrying, especially since it comes after the crucial European Union summit”.
He stressed that the entire European Union was facing difficulties and that the information it received from manufacturers about future vaccines changed from time to time.
According to A.Šuksta, to vaccinate 70 percent. population in mid-summer, manufacturers must have the necessary quantities of vaccines delivered smoothly and regularly on a weekly basis from February onwards, as not only is the first vaccination required, but revaccination with the second dose is also required.
“In other words, if the manufacturer brings the vaccines to Lithuania on June 30, it will simply be physically impossible to vaccinate the required critical number of people by mid-summer,” said the minister’s representative.
The EU has not yet approved the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford, but a decision on its distribution in the Community is expected on 29 January.
Another vaccine maker, Pfizer, also reported vaccine delays in mid-January due to necessary changes in production. To date, two vaccines developed by Moderna and Pfizer in collaboration with BioNTech have been licensed in the European Union (EU).
According to data published by the Department of Statistics, almost 58 thousand people in Lithuania have currently received the first COVID-19 vaccine. people, the second – 9 thousand. people.
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