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The government decided to purchase an additional quantity of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer at a remote meeting called on Tuesday at the suggestion of an urgent meeting of the European Commission (EC).
“We are informing the European Commission according to the established procedure that yes, we will participate in the reserve of this additional amount,” Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said during the meeting.
The Minister of Health, Arūnas Dulkys, stated that the EC had offered a reserve for an additional quantity of vaccine to all the countries of the Community.
According to the minister, Lithuania has 616 thousand. vaccine dose.
“They will be on equal terms for all parties, pro rata principle in accordance with the preliminary purchase agreements, ”said A. Dulkys.
According to him, the additional amount of the vaccine would help to “ensure the protection of the public against infection, the timely vaccination of people at risk.”
A. Dulkys also stated that the parties must make a decision within 24 hours, and Latvia is among the countries that have made a positive decision.
During the meeting, the head of the State Drug Control Service Gytis Andrulionis affirmed that it would be possible to vaccinate some 300 thousand people with additional purchased vaccines. people.
“Respectively, two doses per person, we need to divide by two and we will get the number of people who will be vaccinated,” said G. Andrulionis.
He stressed that the benefits of purchasing additional vaccines are clear.
Additional vaccines: in the second half of next year
Prime Minister I. Šimonytė later declared that the additional vaccines would arrive in Lithuania in the second half of next year.
“The agreement refers to the third and fourth quarters of this year,” the head of government told reporters at Seimas.
According to her, the additional vaccines will be more expensive, but the difference is small compared to the vaccines purchased under a previous contract with the EC.
“The difference is not great, we are talking about several euros and that price is the same for all member states,” said I. Šimonytė.
According to her, one of the advantages of the vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer is that it can adapt quickly to mutations in the virus.
According to the Prime Minister, the additional quantity is being purchased because it is not clear when the vaccines purchased under the general agreement of the EC will reach Lithuania.
“Theoretically, according to all vaccine contracts, Lithuania should receive around 7 million doses, but it is probably following the public space and monitoring where a large part of the vaccines is located and at what stage its completion and approval is,” he said. I. Šimonytė.
“If in the optimistic scenario we could have expected a fairly large number of vaccines in 2021, now those expectations are much more vague, which means that a large part of that amount will be carried into 2022,” he said.
The BioNTech and Pfizer vaccine is currently the only one licensed in the European Union.
Based on the joint purchase of vaccines with other EU countries, the first doses of this vaccine are scheduled to be delivered to Lithuania on Saturday.
Author Ramūnas Jakubauskas
