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The government is due to decide on Monday on a proposal from the Ministry of Health, according to which the payment of preventive tests for coronavirus for all over 12 years of age should end. The ministry wants to motivate people to get vaccinated. But the proposed change would have a severe impact on parents of unvaccinated children from the age of 12, especially those who play sports. They need tests for sports clubs, matches or tournaments.
With a few exceptions, preventive tests for covid-19 could cease to be covered by public health insurance from December. “There will be relief for children under 12, we are still discussing under 18, but we will go with a proposal that there will be relief within 12,” said the main hygienist Pavla Svrčinová.
Tests for people with symptoms should also be free. Tests that will make it possible to end quarantine after contact with the infected person will probably not be valid either. “This is a proposal that we think makes sense, after all, Germany has taken a similar direction. It is true that at the moment the area testing costs about two billion crowns a month, and that is an amount that is relatively large,” he commented. spokesman of the Ministry of Health Daniel Köppl.
According to some epidemiologists, interdisciplinary groups for epidemic situations should continue to be reimbursed. The state should also resume testing in schools in those districts where more than 100 cases per 100,000 people have been infected per week, and in companies that have more than 200 per 100,000 inhabitants in regions with a weekly incidence.
“Stopping reimbursement would lead to a decrease in the number of people tested and a partial loss of the virus spread. I would not completely cancel the test by the end of the year. The motivation for vaccination may be could be counterproductive, “said epidemiologist Rastislav Maďar.
“Testing in this phase, which it is in, should remain. There is a certain percentage of the spread of the disease from schools, and that testing should remain here for another month,” said epidemiologist Roman Prymula.
“It is a kind of motivation for them to undergo vaccination, but I am not sure if it is appropriate. I would stay with the voluntary vaccination. I do not think that the risk of the disease in children is crucial,” said vaccininologist Marek Petráš.
“If you follow the development of the situation and see that the infection is occurring in school children and that even children are already appearing in hospitals, then I think it is a sufficient campaign for every reasonable parent to have their child vaccinated. , “said the chairman of the Czech Vaccinological Society Roman Chlíbek.
The opposition agrees that such restrictive solutions are unlikely to motivate parents to vaccinate their children. “The moment we say that you will either have your children vaccinated or we will close your opportunities to go to sports and cultural events, that is wrong. It is important here now that the government is acting in a credible manner,” said MP Marek Výborný (TOGETHER).
“The SPD movement rejects pressure and discrimination. Whoever wants to be vaccinated should be vaccinated, but those who do not want to be not discriminated against,” said SPD President Tomio Okamura. The government should decide on Monday whether the tests will continue to be reimbursed by insurance companies.
rod, TN.cz
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