Until now, Latvia has refrained from setting the term of validity for Covid-19 certificates, and this autumn the National Health Service said it was not planned to change this condition. On the other hand, Pavļuts pointed out that a number of European countries had such a deadline. In his opinion, Latvia will also move towards setting a nine-month deadline for Covid-19 certificates.
“So certificates would have an end date and, accordingly, to be extended, a booster should be received,” the minister said.
Asked about compulsory vaccination against Covid-19, Pavļuts said that the government had previously discussed the idea of such a duty for elderly people, but the idea was rejected for legal reasons.
“On the other hand, when it comes to compulsory vaccination of the whole society in terms of the epidemiological situation, I think that together with the Ministry of Justice, we need to analyze the Austrian decision, the potential decision of Germany, their legal basis, given that the legal system is related. It must certainly be assessed, and I cannot rule out the probability that Latvia could go this way,” Pavļuts said.