Lithuania’s Health Ministry is working on a centralised system to monitor how many Covid-19 vaccine leftover doses are thrown away.
If the number of “leftover doses increase, then we'll have to look for solutions", Jurgita Grebenkoviene, the chancellor of the ministry, told BNS.
One way to tackle the issue would be to introduce walk-in vaccinations at the end of the day, according to the official.
"If we can't manage this through process organisation means, then we could decide to allow walk-in vaccinations at the end of the day, at certain hours," she said.
Read more: AstraZeneca vaccination ‘back on track’ in Lithuania – official
Leftovers do occur sometimes, but that is not a "massive and huge problem", she added.
Vilnius Mayor Remigijus Šimašius has asked the Health Ministry to allow more leeway in using vaccine leftovers to ensure that no doses are thrown out.
Lithuania's major cities have thrown out dozens of leftover vaccine shots since the launch of the vaccination campaign. Other municipalities have reported only isolated cases.
Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė has said that the rules could be changed if this becomes a widespread problem.
So far, over 642,300 vaccine doses have been delivered to Lithuania and almost 495,400 have been used, based on the latest statistics.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
