Covid-19. April 13

The State Medicines Control Service (VVKT) is sceptical about the possibility of delaying vaccination with the BioNTech and Pfizer vaccines.

As reported by the representative of the service, Aistė Tautvydienė, such use of the vaccine would be inappropriate.

“In the event of a pandemic, different management solutions are possible. However, such use of the vaccine would not be consistent with the product characteristics,” said the representative of VVKT.

In order to vaccinate as many people as possible with at least one dose, it is currently being considered to postpone vaccination with Pfizer, with longer intervals between vaccinations.

On Tuesday, near the vaccination centre by the Vilnius city hall building, there was a huge queue of seniors – some said they were waiting for the vaccine for several hours.

Karolis Vaitkevičius, spokesman for mayor Remigijus Šimašius, noted that the lines formed not because of stalled vaccination but because of the behaviour of the seniors themselves.

“There are seniors whose vaccination is scheduled for 4:00 pm but arrived at 8:00 am. There are also some seniors who started waiting in front of the door an hour before the opening of the vaccination centre, so there was a queue,” the representative of the mayor told the news portal lrytas.lt.

Vaitkevičius assured that several additional vaccination sites would be opened to shorten the queue.

To control the flow of people, representatives of the local government brought movable fences to keep people at a distance.

The Ministry of Education, Sports and Science proposes to transport residents, who do not have access to vaccination centres, on school buses.

Such an opportunity arose after Minister Jurgita Šiugždinienė changed the description of the procedure for transporting students by school buses.

“At this important time, we need to focus and take every opportunity to give seniors every opportunity to be vaccinated. The inability to independently come to the vaccination site should not become the reason why the elderly should not be vaccinated,” reads the minister’s statement.

The statement notes that during the quarantine period, schools with so-called “yellow” buses can be used to transport other people in their free time when the buses are not needed by the students.