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After Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis said on Friday that he was still awaiting a response from President Gitan Nausėda to his request to hold a meeting in the format of heads of state and defense, G. Nausėda’s adviser reiterated that he had no the intention to do so.
“Having evaluated the proposal to consider the acquisition procedure already started, the president sees no reason to call an extraordinary meeting of the State Defense Council,” said Darius Kuliešius, national security adviser to the president and secretary of VGT, in a comment. to BNS.
According to him, the organization of the COVID-19 vaccine procurement process is “a crucial public health issue for which the Minister of Health is directly and personally responsible.”
“In the president’s view, the VGT could organize in the future to address strategic issues in the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak,” he said.
The Presidency emphasizes that the VGT is chaired, its agenda is approved and the meetings are called by the President of the country, and its other members have the right to propose topics, and may also propose that the President convene a meeting.
Last week, the prime minister addressed the president with a request to hold a meeting of the VGT and make decisions related to the joint procurement of Lithuanian and EU vaccines against coronavirus infection. The decision was made after the Prime Minister and the Minister of Health raised doubts about the risks taken by Lithuania and about the reputation of vaccine developers.
Skvernel emphasized that specialized services had reported that the British and Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, from which the product was to be purchased, had raised suspicions of possible bribery and distributed drugs that were ineffective, providing false prices and misinformation to the market. . The company itself suspended trials of the vaccine because a volunteer developed ailments.
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