In the investigation commission on vaccination at the Žalgiris Clinic – an employee of the Žalgiris Clinic

Possible vaccination violations are also related to the vaccinations of some professors of the VU Institute of Dentistry, who did not have employment contracts with the Žalgiris Clinic during the first vaccination. As previously reported by the Ministry of Health, people who did not wish to be vaccinated at the clinic could not be vaccinated with COVID-19 according to the vaccination schedule prioritized at that time.

V. Brukienė, director of the VU Dental Institute, confirmed to BNS that she knew that vaccination reserve lists were being prepared at the Žalgiris Clinic, but assured that she had not contributed to their preparation.

SAM: The investigation is not related to possible violations of the head of the institution

The Health Ministry initially declared to the BNS that the composition of the commission conducting the investigation was confidential and that “to maintain impartiality and objectivity, the composition of the commission will be made public after the investigation.”

“It should be noted that the investigation does not refer to possible violations of the institution’s head of job responsibilities, but only aims to evaluate the organization and implementation process of vaccination against the COVID-19 disease in the institution,” he says SAM.

Upon repeated requests, SAM revealed the composition of the six members of the commission, which was decided on Wednesday by stakeholders from the SAM and VU clinic.

The Commission will be chaired by Martyna Mickė, Head of the Legal Division of the Ministry, and her Deputy, Miglė Šarkienė, Chief Lawyer of the VU Law Enforcement Division.

In addition to the aforementioned head of the VU V. Brukienė Dental Clinic, the commission will also include Juozas Galginaitis, an expert on the subject from the Office of the Dean of the VU Faculty of Medicine, Rasa Kiūdytė, SAM Chief Advisor and Kazys Rušinskas

The director of the institute says she was unaware of the vaccination of colleagues

V. Brukienė, director of the VU Institute of Dentistry, told BNS on Thursday that she did not know that she was included in this commission, although she admitted that she had agreed to help if such a commission was formed.

“I still do not have the information to be included in the commission. I do not have such information that I am included, I hear from you first (…) they asked me if I could participate if it was decided to form a commission, yes, I answered that I could participate ”, said the director. from the VU Institute of Dentistry.

He also claimed to work at the Grunwald Clinic.

“I work at the Žalgiris Clinic for almost 20 years. In 2019 I was laid off for a year and in 2020 I got a job again. I am a pediatric dentist and head of the pediatric dentistry department,” said V. Brukienė.

The director of the VU Institute of Dentistry confirmed that she had been vaccinated against the coronavirus in early January as a clinic worker. At the same time, the teachers of this institute, who did not yet have a contract with the clinic, were vaccinated.

V. Brukienė stated that he was aware that vaccination reserve lists were being compiled, but did not contribute to their preparation.

“I knew that a list of people who wanted to be vaccinated had been compiled (…) I did not make a list of people to be vaccinated and I did not contribute to it,” said the dentist.

He says he did not know that his colleagues at the institute would be vaccinated.

“I did not know who would be vaccinated and when they would be vaccinated, but it is questioned who would like to be vaccinated if possible, and did know,” said V. Brukienė.

VU representative: subordinates were vaccinated as clinic employees

Vilnius University spokesperson Ervinas Spūdys informed BNS that the university itself recommended V. Brukienė.

“The aforementioned commissioner was recommended by Vilnius University, taking into account that during the research process it may be relevant to examine not only the legal aspects of the process, but also the nuances of the science and organization of the study, such as VU Hospital Žalgiris The clinic is the main clinical research base of Vilnius University, “said a representative from VU.

“Naturally, the employees of the Institute of Dentistry of the Vilnius University Medical Faculty – professors and researchers – carry out clinical practice here, teach students and deepen their own skills,” he said.

E. Spūdys says that V. Brukienė did not participate in the compilation of the list of people to be vaccinated and his subordinates were vaccinated at the institute as employees of the clinic.

“She did not participate in the preparation of the list of people to be vaccinated, she is not involved in that process, her subordinates were also vaccinated only as employees of the clinic,” said a representative from VU.

The police have launched an investigation

The Special Investigation Service (STT) announced this week that it has launched a pre-trial investigation into the circumstances of the COVID-19 vaccination at the Žalgiris Clinic of the Vilnius University Hospital.

The Service announced this Thursday that during the inspection of the circumstances indicated in the notification received, it was established that about 20 people who were not employees of the Žalgiris Clinic and did not correspond to the priority group of the population had been vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine. at the Žalgiris Clinic.

“Due to the mass of the violation, the state could have suffered significant moral damage, violating the principles of state legality, justice, transparency and the interests of other people,” says STT.

A pre-trial investigation into the abuse has been launched, with no reports yet.

At the beginning of January, BNS announced possible infractions at the Žalgiris Clinic of the Vilnius University Hospital, when eight professors of the VU Institute of Dentistry who did not have an employment contract with this clinic were vaccinated, as well as one of the retired founders of the clinic.

The Ministry of Health (SAM) said at the time that teachers who did not have employment contracts with the Žalgiris Clinic could not get vaccinated against COVID-19 as a priority issue and began the study, but their findings are not yet available.

Vytautė Pečiulienė, the director of the Žalgiris Clinic, told BNS that the teachers had been vaccinated, because as of February 1 they will come to work with patients and students; they are temporarily employed in accordance with the usual procedure, as the VU Institute of Dentistry is the clinical center. base of the institution.

The director also confirmed that among those vaccinated are Laura Linkevičienė, the daughter of MEP Juozas Olekas, her husband Tomas Linkevičius and others.