As the elderly shun the AstraZeneca jab, Lithuania will begin using some of the 60,000 unused doses to vaccinate people working in large organisations.
"We've decided to take steps to accelerate vaccinations. This week, we're switching on a parallel gear by using leftover AstraZeneca vaccine doses," Health Minister Arūnas Dulkys told reporters on Tuesday. "We'll start vaccinating staff [at large organisations] that are on the priority list, but a little lower."
The decision was made because some elderly people, those with chronic health problems and other groups who are currently entitled to vaccination, do not want the AstraZeneca vaccine and are waiting for Moderna or Pfizer shots, according to the minister.
Read more: Lithuania may end up in ‘black zone’ as coronavirus cases grow – minister
"Unfortunately, these aren't available in all vaccination centers," he said. "Currently, we have about 60,000 unused AstraZeneca vaccine doses, fewer than 9,000 Moderna doses, and fewer than 5,000 Pfizer doses."
Some 70,000 BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine doses and 15,000 AstraZeneca doses are expected to be delivered to Lithuania this week, according to the minister.
He said over 88,000 people in Lithuania had received their shots in the past week, compared to 75,000 a week earlier.
Lithuania has received a total of 642,365 vaccine doses so far. All of them have been delivered to vaccination centers, and 568,777 have been used, based on the latest statistics.
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