2024-07-30 21:31:46
Rasa Budbergytė, an elder of the Social Democratic faction in the Seimas, informed “Žiniai Radio” on Tuesday that LSDP approached A. Dulkis.
“Regarding that vaccine matter, I will remind you that the Attorney General’s Office has opened an investigation after a public interest investigation into how the 2022 the contract to buy large quantities of COVID vaccines may have been extended. This is huge money, 230 million. euros. It is bought as if it were 11 million. vaccines, when there is already some knowledge that 2.5 million doses for 46.5 million euros were already destroyed as obsolete,” R. Budbergytė told “Žinių radio”.
“We even appealed to the minister himself, asking if it is really true that those contracts for the purchase of vaccines have been extended even until 2026. If that’s the case, then apparently we’ll have a lot of money to spend disposing of those vaccines,” she added.
In the letter to the minister, which was also seen by ELTA, it is stated that in 2022 The leadership of the Ministry of Health could unilaterally extend the orders for vaccines against the coronavirus.
“As far as we know, in 2022, the management of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Lithuania may have unilaterally extended the order for COVID-19 vaccines until 2026. This would mean that excess procurement of COVID-19 vaccines, organization of disposal and related political responsibility would be transferred to another Government,” the document states.
The social democrats of A. Dulkios are asking to provide information until when Lithuania has committed to buying COVID-19 vaccines. The Minister is asked whether, when extending the order for the COVID-19 vaccines, the leadership of the Ministry of Health has assessed the need for the COVID-19 vaccines and the potential losses to the state.
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. A. Dulkios is also asked to answer what state losses are predicted in the future due to not using the COVID-19 vaccines on time.
ELTA reminds that in May of this year, the General Prosecutor’s Office started a pre-trial investigation in order 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 the 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 principle of pro rata (proportionality).
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.
2024-07-30 21:31:46