Vaccination of elderly people started in Kaunas, some teachers refused to be vaccinated against Covid-19

Vaccination of the elderly also begins in other municipalities

“There are around 18 thousand people in the age group over 80 in the entire city of Kaunas. People. Some are already sick, some are sick, some have a different approach to vaccination. We expect to have about 15 thousand vaccinated. People of this age group, ”said Justinas Dzidzevičius, representative of the Kaunas City Polyclinic, who coordinates the vaccination and testing process.

He mentioned that oncology patients are being vaccinated in parallel and are being given a rapid Covid-19 test right away.

A representative of the Kaunas Polyclinic noted that patients from the medical institutions it represented and from private medical institutions were being vaccinated. You can register online, on the Kaunas Polyclinic portal or by contacting your family doctor.

According to data from the Ministry of Health, more than half of Lithuanian municipalities, including large cities, should start vaccinating the main population this week. Vaccination for people over 80 years of age will begin next week in all municipalities.

According to the updated vaccination plan, vaccination is scheduled for all people over 65, as well as those with chronic diseases, in March. Mass vaccination of the population should begin in April. In February, it is planned to vaccinate kindergarten staff, elementary school teachers, special needs education specialists, HIV cancer patients, people aged 75 years and over.

About 7 percent of people don’t get vaccinated

“The proportion of Kaunas residents who have been invited to be vaccinated but have not arrived is approximately 7 percent. That citizen has the right to want the vaccine again at a later date, to be duly directed and vaccinated. I want to note that each There is more and more. Educators and medical staff alike, who were initially quite skeptical about vaccination. We believe that registration is accelerating, “said J. Dzidzevičius.

“Currently more and 13 thousand have been vaccinated. Kaunas population, about 7 thousand. of them: to be vaccinated twice, to be revaccinated, ”said Paulius Keras, Deputy Director of the Kaunas Municipal Administration.

At the moment, Kaunas residents are being vaccinated at the former Central Post Office, which has been converted into a vaccination center. Preparations are underway to open another center to house the completed Ice Palace. According to Kero, if the vaccine supply is stable, it is expected to be operational in a few weeks.

The number of educators who refuse to be vaccinated is well above average

“The biggest challenge is the number of vaccines. We want to get as many of them as possible and vaccinate as many of the city’s population as possible. We see that some neighbors do not come to get vaccinated and then try to re-enroll in those vaccinated. This slightly disturbs the process itself, but we believe that it is going quite well, gaining momentum, if there are vaccines we will be able to vaccinate with a sufficiently high voltage ”, said P. Keras, representative of the Kaunas municipality.

He admitted that the vaccination of Kaunas teachers and other education sector employees is not going as well as they would like. There were days when not all invited school personnel came to get vaccinated. About 27 percent of Astra Zeneca refused to be vaccinated or simply did not attend. registered.

“To this day, out of 5,000, all educated educators are invited to vaccinate, some have not arrived. The reasons why we do not know if they will want to be vaccinated or not. If they wish, they will be added to the list later. Keras said.

According to the representative of the Kaunas municipality, the proportion of employees in the education sector invited to be vaccinated against Covid-19, but who did not attend, exceeds other groups of the population and represents 10 to 15 percent.

If such numbers of educators and other workers in the education sector who do not want to be vaccinated will hamper plans to start a contact education process, Keras could not respond.

“When the process is complete, we will see everyone who wants to register for vaccination later, we will see what numbers, then it will be possible to answer your question,” said P. Keras, deputy director of the Kaunas Municipal Administration. reporters.