Linas Jegelevičius for the BNN
Lithuania has recorded a new mind-blowing high of 7,057 daily coronavirus infections, as well as nine deaths from Covid-19 on Thursday, January 20, the country’s statistical office, Statistics Lithuania, announced. On the previous day, 6,257 cases were reported.
The ruling conservative-liberal Coalition, which, some say, has pinned all of its hopes in curbing the contagious virus on the encompassing vaccination, including mandatory inoculation of health and social sector workers, suffered a huge setback on Thursday, January 20, after the Seimas, the country’s legislative body, voted down the proposal on obligatory inoculation for all medics, social and other contact service workers.
Sixty MPs voted in favour of compulsory vaccinations, 53 voted against and ten abstained.
«We need to use a whole range of measures to minimise the spread of the virus», said Eugenijus Gentvilas, head of the Liberal Movement’s political group in the Seimas, said before the voting. «Every life is worth the effort of MPs to take measures. If we fail to take measures, we must take some responsibility for each death», he added.
Rallying all MPs to support the bill amendments, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė that it is very important to ensure that medical workers can do their work calmly and smoothly and that they are exposed to as few risks as possible.
Meanwhile, Remigijus Žemaitaitis of the Lithuanian Regions Political Group, excoriated the proposed amendments, calling them divisive and sowing mistrust and enmity in the society. In defence of his view, he noted that only about 1 percent of doctors who work directly with patients have not been vaccinated against Covid-19.
Speaking to BNN, Aurelijus Veryga, a MP of the opposition Farmers and Greens Union (LFGU) and former Health minister in 2016-2020 LFGU-orchestrated Cabinet, accentuated that the overall mild Omicron variant does not require such a harsh measure.
«Besides, it slights the vast majority of medics who have already received the shots and are vocal supporters of the vaccination. Singling out medics from other professions seems discriminatory to me», he said.
When confronted by BNN with the staggering, all-time high Covid-19 numbers this week, Veryga said: «We perhaps are too much focused on the new Covid-19 numbers. I’d rather see how they impact our hospitals. Due to mild Omicron symptoms mostly, the impact has not been extremely strenuous yet. Speaking of the government’s actions aimed at reining the pandemic in, I got the feeling it lets things roll on their own. Besides mandatory vaccination, it has not come up with any other measure to tackle it», Veryga said.
In his words, the Opportunity passport, also known as the Covid, has long «exhausted» itself.
«It lost its usefulness, when mandatory masking indoors was reinstated», the MP said.
The government argued that the mandatory inoculation measure was aimed at ensuring that health and social care facilities can operate safely amid the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.
Read also: Latest Covid-19 cases in Baltics. 4 885 in Latvia, 7 057 in Lithuania, 3 845 in Estonia
If passed, the amendments would have made vaccinations mandatory not only for people working in health and social care facilities, but also to those providing cleaning and food services.
It would not have been applied to workers who cannot take the jab for medical reasons or those who have recently recovered from the disease.
Under the amendments, unvaccinated workers would not be allowed to do in-person work. If possible, they would have to work remotely or will be moved to other positions that do not require mandatory vaccination. If none of this is possible, these workers would be suspended without pay.
Importantly, three months after their suspension, employers would have had the right to terminate their employment without prior notice or severance pay.
Critics of the amendments have argued throughout saying that pandemic management policies should be based on trust and not on coercion.
Clearly disappointed by the voting results, PM Šimonytė remarked to the clapping opposition: «You ought not only look at the (Covid-19) numbers, but learn to understand them.»
Meanwhile, Eugenijus Gentvilas, head of the parliamentary Liberal Movement (Liberalų sąjūdis) fraction, said the bill will be back on the parliamentary floor.
«When people sober up and when new Covid-19 cases will reach tens of thousands and when the death toll of unvaccinated people will soar», the liberal MP said.
Saulius Skvernelis, head of the new Democratic fraction «Vardan Lietuvos» (In sake of Lithuania) said the voting showed the ruling majority failed to garner required support and more – be able to work out compromises. Having said before he will vote for the amendments, the MP abstained during the voting.
«The poor communication of the Health Minister (Arūnas Dulkys) is to be blamed for that…Every week, he flip-flops on the issues like the COVID-19 Opportunity pass or the vaccination», he explained.
Notably, the country’s Covid certificate, the so-called Opportunity pass, devised to target the Alpha variant of the coronavirus, has been under pressure.
Notably, Lithuania’s presidential adviser Irena Šegalovičienė says it is no longer useful against the Omicron mutation.
«It has run its course. We need to look for new ways, review it in principle, in order to answer the question how we are going to manage the pandemic further», the advisor told the radio Žinių Radijas.
Lithuania introduced Covid certificates last May. It was issued to people with immunity against Covid-19 or those who had a negative test result.
According to the advisor, vaccination no longer provides sure protection against infection or transmission of the virus. Moreover, she added, the government has been using the Covid certificate to pressure people to get vaccinated.
Meanwhile, Dulkys predicts that the record-high Covid-19 statistics is likely to grow.
«The Omicron variant dominates only in Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda regions, not elsewhere, so an increase can be expected», he said, adding that local hospitals handle the situation well.
The 14-day infection rate has risen further to 2,005 per 100,000 people, with the seven-day percentage of positive tests up to 24.9 percent. Overall, 589,100 people in Lithuania have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. The death toll has reached 7,700.
BNN ANALYSES | Lithuanian medical staff not to have mandatory vaccination amid 7,057 new Covid-19 cases
