None of the 800 available doses of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine have so far been used in Visaginas, a predominantly Russian-speaking town of 18,000 people in northeastern Lithuania.
“Unfortunately, 800 AstraZeneca vaccines are sitting in the refrigerator and not a single resident of the city has been vaccinated with the AstraZeneca [jab],” Visaginas Mayor Erlandas Galaguz told the LRT’s Russian-language radio service.
Around 800 residents, however, have already received the Pfizer jab.
“I think it’s because there is a lot of conflicting information in the media and people are somehow afraid,” said Galaguz .“They heard that people had some additional symptoms” after receiving AstraZeneca shots.
So far, nine European countries have temporarily halted vaccination with AstraZeneca vaccine due to several cases of blood clotting following the vaccination. Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Luxembourg have only stopped using the doses from one specific batch which was supplied to 17 European countries.
Read more: Lithuania will not follow Nordics in suspending AstraZeneca vaccines
Lithuania’s Health Ministry is now launching an information campaign in Russian. According to the mayor of Visaginas, it may help sway the public opinion.
“Not all residents of our country watch central television, and there is a need to receive information in Russian,” said Galaguz, adding that the municipality has also “simplified the registration [process] for residents wishing to be vaccinated”.
In the meantime, he has requested the Health Ministry for permission to dispense the unused doses to anyone wishing to get vaccinated.
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