At the end of last year, an informal working group of health care officials decided to order only half of the offered amount of Covid-19 vaccine “Moderna” – 336,566 doses, the public media LTV7 reports on Friday. According to Politico, Latvia was not the only country that abandoned additional Moderna vaccines, in total there were 16.
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Last November, the European Commission (EC) signed an agreement to purchase 80 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines from the then unregistered US company Moderna. The European Commission took this opportunity at the end of December. As in other EC vaccine purchases, the number of vaccine doses provided for each country was proportional to its population.
In the case of Latvia, they were 336,000 doses from the first part of the contract and the same from the second. On November 27, 2020, the National Health Service (NSS) received an offer from the EC Control Panel on the 336,566 basic doses and 336,566 additional doses of the Moderna vaccine available in Latvia, LTV7 informed the service. Unsolicited vaccines would allow more than 168,000 people to be vaccinated.
“The information received was forwarded for consideration Ministry of Health ad hoc [šim mērķim izveidotajai] a working group (working group of institutions subordinate to the Ministry of Health), which met on 30 November to decide on the number of doses of Moderna vaccine to be ordered. During the meeting, a decision was made to order 336,566 doses of vaccine, “informed NVD.
The NSS explained that Latvia would receive additional doses only in the third and fourth quarters of this year, LTV7 reports. At the end of last year, he held the position of Minister of Health Ilze Ņķele (AP), during which an informal working group was also set up to decide on the supply of vaccines. She declined to comment on the purchase of “Moderna” vaccines on LTV7.
According to Politico, Latvia was not the only country to renounce additional Moderna vaccines, there were 16 in total: Latvia, Poland, Romania, Belgium, Greece, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Ireland, Lithuania, Slovenia, Estonia, Cyprus , Hungary, Luxembourg and Malta. Meanwhile, Portugal, Austria and Croatia applied for additional vaccines, but less than was possible. Commenting on the choice not to apply for additional vaccines, Hungarian officials indicated that their receipt would be delayed.
The Minister of Health Daniels Pavļuts (AP) commented on the information in the public media on Friday evening after the extraordinary sitting of the Cabinet of Ministers. The Minister stressed that he has proposed more one official inspection in connection with the procurement of Covid-19 vaccines.
The inspection of the new service will cover all purchases of Covid-19 vaccines related to the construction of the vaccine portfolio last autumn and winter. Among other things, as Pavluts emphasized, decisions on “Moderna” vaccines will be reviewed. The information available to Pavluta shows that the working group did not really consider it necessary to purchase additional doses of “Moderna”.
He claimed that this episode would be investigated in the same way as other episodes of vaccine purchases and would be reported as soon as the service check was completed. “There should be no more unanswered questions,” he added.
Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš (JV) was critical of the situation. He emphasized that a change in the Ministry of Health was expected from Pavluta. “I think that a service check will not be enough, there must be concrete changes here,” the prime minister was harsh. The state is currently suffering from the decisions of a narrow group, Kariņš added.
It has already been reported that disciplinary proceedings have not been established National Health Service (NVD) Illegal actions of Ainārs Lācbergs, Deputy Head of the Procurement Division of the Financial Management Department, in deciding on the purchase of BioNTech / Pfizer vaccines in Latvia. Disciplinary proceedings were initiated because Latvian officials at one time decided to buy less BioNTech / Pfizer vaccine than was available, which at the beginning of this year resulted in an even greater vaccine against Covid-19 deficiency than elsewhere in Europe. the lowest rates of vaccinated individuals.
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