[ad_1]
“Organizing the procurement process for the COVID-19 vaccine is a crucial public health issue for which the Minister of Health is directly and personally responsible.
The COVID-19 vaccine purchase process has already started and the Minister’s intention to relinquish his direct responsibility can be linked to the ongoing pre-trial investigations into previous purchases made by the Ministry. ” 15 minutes D. Kuliešius stated, apparently referring to the actions carried out by the forces of order reagent testing and for quick test purchases.
In the last study Complaints have been made against the former Vice Minister of Health., two advisers to the Prime Minister have the status of special witnesses.
The desire of the Minister to get rid of his direct responsibility can be linked to the pre-trial investigations initiated.
President Gitanas Nausėda, according to his adviser, believes that in the future a meeting of the VGT could be organized to address strategic issues in the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak, but now there is no basis for that.
In this particular case, the president has no doubt that the vaccine must be purchased, and the method chosen to do so together with other European Union countries by signing a relevant agreement with the European Commission in June is the appropriate one. However, the procurement must be transparent and efficient, ”emphasized D. Kuliešius and asked the Minister of Health, the head of emergency operations, to take action.
“In the opinion of the president, the minister should devote his attention, time and determination to the performance of his direct functions and not to attempts to evade responsibilities,” added G. Nausėda’s adviser.
Photo by Julius Kalinskas / 15min / Darius Kuliešius
On Tuesday night, Minister Veryga announced that the Presidency saw no reason to call a meeting of the VGT on the purchase of the coronavirus vaccine, despite the Government’s request.
On Facebook, the minister shared the response of the president’s advisor, Mr. Kuliešius, to the invitation to convene the VGT; the document states that to convene this format of meeting of the heads of state and national defense, it is necessary to provide “supporting material and arguments.”
“The specific procedural documents of the current recruitment are not the basis of the VGT agenda,” noted D. Kuliešius in his response to A. Veryga.
Veryga, for his part, assured that the presidential adviser did not even know the documents that he gave him, “because he did not agree to sign the standard declaration of confidentiality set by the European Commission (EC) and did not receive the key to open those documents.”
In 15 minutes the question whether this was the case was not answered by the presidency.
In a statement, A. Veryga stated that Lithuania should decide on the allocation of additional funds to the vaccine support fund already this week, and on the strategy to buy vaccines, as soon as possible.
How to expect an institutional focus on this important issue is not very clear.
“After today’s advisor’s refusal to accept the information, it is not very clear how to expect the institutions to focus on this important issue.
We sincerely hope for a broad agreement between the highest authorities on this important issue for the country: whether or not to buy vaccines against the emerging coronavirus, if so, how much, if not, or wait for other vaccines to be developed. This issue is of national importance, it is relevant for all the countries of the world, because the vaccine is as new as the virus ”, said the Minister.
The VGT is made up of the President, the Prime Minister, the Spokesperson for Seimas, the Minister of National Defense and the Commander of the Armed Forces. It is an institution that considers and coordinates the most important topics in the defense of the State, including the activities of state institutions in the most important topics to guarantee and defend the security of the State.
[ad_2]
