2024-07-31 11:45:47
“The Ministry provides all responsible institutions with information and cooperates in clarifying this vaccine procurement process, but we understand that the participation of political parties in this process has little to do with fact-checking and more with the search for “skeletons” at the start of a new political season and election campaign,” commented the Social Democrats T. Bagdonas stated the questions to Minister Elta.
However, he noted, the ministry will answer all the questions asked by the opposition party. However, already now, T. Bagdon pointed out, the Social Democrats themselves could comment on some aspects of the accusations against the minister. As the minister’s representative makes it clear, unlike what the Social Democrats claim, in 2022 SAM management has not signed any contracts regarding vaccines.
“Vaccines are currently being procured under the currently one remaining long-term contract in force, which was signed on 11/20/2020 between the European Commission, acting on behalf of EU members, and the vaccine supplier. It is valid until 2026. the end No other contracts are planned to be signed. in 2022 no actions were taken with the contract, unlike what the representatives of the Social Democrats mention – since they are juggling this date, they could also explain where it came from and what actions they think were taken”, said T. Bagdon.
In addition, he continued, all negotiations on vaccines were not conducted directly, but with the participation of the European Commission (EC). And in 2023 during the talks, T. Bagdonas emphasized, results beneficial to Lithuania were achieved.
“As a result of negotiations, in 2023 The European Commission signed an amendment to the contract with the vaccine manufacturer, which determined the use of the number of vaccines remaining under the current contract. The supply of the amount of vaccines committed to purchase in 2020 has been arranged to meet demand and minimize disposal. According to the Ministry’s calculations, these changes allowed Lithuania to reduce the amount of used vaccines by 2.7 million. doses. It is important to emphasize that the total amount of vaccines did not change – it remained defined in 2020. according to the contract, only the delivery terms changed”, said T. Bagdon, noting once again that the accusations against the ministry have no basis.
“It casts a shadow that somehow the minister or ministry acted arbitrarily – the ministry did not act directly, but through the European Commission, since it is the Commission, not the Ministry of Health, that is a party to the contract. Also, the prime minister was informed about all the details of the negotiations”, T. Bagdon added.
ELTA reminds that last Friday representatives of the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party (LSDP) in the Seimas appealed to the Minister of Health Arūnas Dulkis, asking for an explanation of the situation regarding the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines.
According to the Social Democrats, despite the large amount of used vaccines, it is possible that in 2022 SAM unilaterally extended their orders until 2026.
“This would mean that the excess purchase of COVID-19 vaccines, the organization of disposal and the related political responsibility would be transferred to another Government,” states the document addressed to SAM.
The representatives of LSDP ask A. Dulkiis to answer until when Lithuania committed to purchase the COVID-19 vaccines, whether after extending their order, the SAM management assessed the real need for vaccines and possible state losses. The Social Democrats are also asking the minister who and for what reasons made the decision to extend the purchase of vaccines, whether these decisions were coordinated with Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonyte.
In turn, the General Prosecutor’s Office has started a pre-trial investigation, which aims to determine whether a criminal offense was committed when purchasing an extremely large amount of COVID-19 vaccines and later disposing of some of them.
According to the prosecutor’s office, the investigation into the expediency of the application of public interest protection measures was started in December of last year. During it, it was established that Lithuania purchased the COVID-19 vaccines from five different manufacturers.
It is indicated that they were purchased in the course of centralized procurement procedures initiated and organized by the European Commission (EC), after the states agreed in advance to purchase the amount of vaccines assigned by the EC in accordance with the pro rata (proportionality) principle.
Lithuania purchased more than 11 million vaccine doses for more than 230 million euros. Of this amount, about 2.5 million doses were later disposed of due to their expiration date and other reasons. The estimated value of the destroyed vaccines is 46.5 million. euros.
2024-07-31 11:45:47