Latvia had planned to purchase a little more than a million total of four types of Covid vaccine this year, but the number of vaccines scheduled for next year is even higher. Their use is not so quick and Latvia has already donated 2.5 million vaccines. In order to avoid purchasing any surplus vaccines that cannot be used, the Minister for Health, Daniels Pavļuts, in correspondence with the European Commission, has called for increased pressure on vaccine manufacturers to agree on more flexible rules to allow the withdrawal of vaccine supplies without sanctions depending on the epidemiological situation.
Letters were sent to the European Commission by the Ministers of the Baltic States together and a joint request of other European countries to take action. Neither the Minister for Health nor the representatives of the Ministry commented on this in person, sending the reply in writing. They pointed out that, at the moment, one of the goals is:
“To prevent the manufacturer from supplying unnecessary vaccines to the Member State (taking into account the limited capacity of the vaccine storage facilities), but to ensure that the manufacturer keeps the vaccines to itself until an agreement has been reached on favorable agreement amendments to the Member States or on the donation of these vaccines.”
As the incidence of Covid-19 is now beginning to decrease and hospitals are not congested, activity has decreased in vaccination offices. For example, at the moment, when new vaccines are available for the variant of Omicron, a little more than 33 thousand people have chosen vaccination.
