Lithuania may ask medical assistance from foreign countries as its hospitals are overwhelmed with growing numbers of Covid-19 patients, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė says.
Lithuanian hospitals are struggling to set up enough teams to tend to coronavirus patients, Šimonytė told reporters on Tuesday.
However, neighbouring countries might not be able to help, since their medical resources are also spread thin, she added.
“The problem is that we don't have many countries around us where the situation is exceptionally good and where they could lend Lithuania and other countries their personnel,” the prime minister said.
As of Tuesday, 2,372 Covid-19 patients are being treated in Lithuanian hospitals, including 180 in intensive care. Since the number is growing, more beds are being set up in hospitals, but there are not enough medical personnel.
Logistical challenges of distributing vaccines
As Lithuania is expecting to receive the first batch of coronavirus vaccine over the first days of January, the main challenge is to arrange efficient vaccination, Šimonytė said.
“Now, the key thing […] is to properly put the whole logistics in place, which is what we are working on with the Health Ministry,” she told journalists on Tuesday.
She said that the past government failed to make necessary decisions and only pushed responsibility down to municipalities, “without any real implementation mechanism for how municipalities should carry out vaccination”.
The initial batch of vaccines, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, will consists of about 10,000 doses, “a very small number under any assessment” Šimonytė said, but it should be followed by larger shipments.
Read more: Lithuania to get first vaccines in early January, enough to vaccinate 5,000 people – minister
Medics will be the first to be vaccinated in Lithuania, followed by people in risk groups – like the elderly and people with health conditions – and then the rest of the population, the prime minister said.
Šimonytė underlined that immunisation would be voluntary, adding that her government would provide clear and transparent information about vaccines, their benefits and risks to avoid any suspicion that something was being hidden.
Mass vaccination would be like “a ticket to freedom”, Šimonytė said, adding that restrictions would still remain once vaccinations began.
Coronavirus vaccines are now undergoing assessment by the European Medicines Agency. Šimonytė said earlier she would hold a special meeting on December 29 at the latest to decide on whether to issue conditional permit to sell Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines.
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