The Prime Minister said that the current Health Minister Daniels Pavļuts replaced former Minister Ilze Viņķele at the moment when vaccination against Covid-19 had just started in Latvia. In order to carry out this task as quickly as possible, Pavļuts proposed to set up a special Vaccination Bureau, and the government supported the proposal.
"The first act, if it could be called that, with this new structure... I don't see the benefits yet. Because our society needs nothing but a smooth and understandable pace of vaccination," the Prime Minister said, adding out that the pace of vaccination currently taking place in social care centers cannot be called either smooth or satisfactory.
Kariņš said that he, as head of government, expects the situation with vaccinations to change radically, and that is the job of the Vaccination Bureau. The Prime Minister will claim responsibility from the Minister for Health.
“The minister has to evaluate the bureau and the minister has to get the result from that bureau. This is the minister's task.”
Asked how much time it takes for the situation to change radically with vaccination, the Prime Minister said: “We don't have that time anymore. This week, these rates need to change.”
Comparing Pavluts and former Health Minister Viņķele, the Prime Minister said that Pavluts understood the seriousness of this crisis.
"And he has no illusions that Covid-19 will immediately disappear, and we should not be worried about anything at all. He understands the seriousness of the situation deeply and thoroughly," the Prime Minister said.
