Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda has rejected a bill that would have required unvaccinated workers to pay for their own coronavirus tests.
According to the president, the regulation, which was passed by parliament last month, would significantly reduce access to compulsory Covid-19 testing and discourage people from taking the tests.
This would lead to “delayed diagnosis and uncontrolled spread of Covid-19”, the president's office said in a press release on Wednesday afternoon.
Regular testing is compulsory for unvaccinated workers in certain sectors, including healthcare, education, catering, public administration, and the military. If they refuse to get vaccinated, they are required to get tested every 7–10 days.
At the moment, the government covers the testing costs. Authors of the new law argued that if the workers had to pay for their own tests, it would encourage them to get vaccinated.
The president argued, however, that there must not be an opposition between testing and vaccination.
“Let's not jump at easy, but baseless solutions. Let's avoid practices that divide the society and lower its trust in the state. Let's fight the causes of people not getting vaccinated, raise people's awareness,” according to the president's statement.
Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė will comment on the president's veto once she studies his arguments, her spokeswoman Rasa Jakilaitienė, told BNS on Wednesday.
Read more: Lithuania decides against mandatory vaccination for select professions
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