SAM Chancellor explained the decision that sparked the scandal: we couldn’t wait a day

This outraged the heads of other municipalities. According to them, the neighbors had already been invited to be vaccinated, and due to this redistribution, their invitation had to be canceled.

Jurgita Grebenkovienė, cantor of the Ministry of Health, in the program Delphi Day He said why he had not been told and warned before.

Again, analyzing the weekend data on the situation in the Vilnius city municipality, we saw a deteriorating situation, threateningly approaching free beds towards the end, and on Monday morning an urgent decision was made to respond in immediately and prescribe vaccinations to the municipality of Vilnius city. This solution was chosen as one of the measures that could slow down the deterioration of the situation in Vilnius ”, says the interlocutor.

When asked if such a decision was not deterred by the fact that some people had already planned their vaccinations, J. Grebenkovienė assured that a decision needed to be made quickly and that it was impossible to wait a day.

“Yes, we thought about it, we knew it would have a negative effect, extra work for the municipalities, but we had to make quick decisions with consequences. The decision was made to redistribute the vaccines to the city of Vilnius and not take more than a day, ”says the interlocutor.

When asked about the further vaccination process and whether we can still receive surprises, J. Grebenkovienė assured that he hopes to learn from mistakes.

“There are places to learn certain things that cannot be done. We will try not to have such solutions in the future. As for other vaccines, we are now reviewing the redistribution of all vaccines and seeing, accordingly, if any adjustments need to be made. In the case of black municipalities, we will inform the municipalities after reviewing everything ”.

Visock: it is a great lack of respect for people

The mayor of Šiauliai, Artūras Visockas, assured in the program that this is a great lack of respect for the people.

“I understand what Remigijus says, he does not regret vaccines, but the question is not about that. The main question is how this was done. I completely reject the issue of urgency and the saying that it is absolutely necessary to do it here in a few hours, because the situation in Vilnius has been growing for two weeks. This decision could easily have been made a week ago, saying that the situation would change as of next Monday, to present arguments.

Then there would have been no problems, and now there is a great lack of respect for the people who have registered, especially the elderly, for me, the city of Šiauliai, is very bad, because you have to call the elderly person and explain in Again, the conversation often takes time. It’s very complicated. This situation was created by the impossibility of working and predicting ”, assured the mayor.

The mayor of Vilnius, Remigijus Šimašius, assured that he logically evaluates such a decision of the Government, but the misunderstanding of the communication has really happened and understands the indignant mayors.

“I have been saying for a long time that Vilnius needs more vaccines, we have always received them less than other big cities, the difference is especially big with Kaunas. So far we have six percent fewer vaccines per 100,000 inhabitants than in Kaunas, and I have always said that vaccines are needed. That news is logical and joyful to hear. The way it was communicated was probably a separate issue. I really understand all the mayors who say they were ready.

This is the same as giving a child a candy and then telling them that we will take it away and give it to an older child. I thank the Government for such a decision, and that there has been such a lack of communication, I certainly understand the mayors as a whole. Efforts must be made to ensure that there is no longer such a miscommunication, ”says R. Šimašius.

The mayor of Šiauliai also says that the last week was the hardest for him during the entire time he became mayor.

“As no one from the government is going to apologize out loud, I apologize to all the people in the city who organized this work and the seniors who were hoping to accept the government’s apology, because, however, the mayor also represents the government. (…) For me, this week is the saddest in the emotional sense since I was working in this job ”, says the mayor.