Lithuania will temporarily suspend the requirement for under-16-year-olds to have Covid certificates, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė said on Tuesday.
“The requirement for teenagers under 16 will be postponed,” the prime minister told reporters. “I think we'll postpone it for about five weeks, enough time for a full vaccination.”
As of last December, kids over 12 are required to have national Covid certificates – or Opportunity Passes (galimybių pasas) – in order to access non-essential shops and services, though not to attend classes or extracurricular education. In order to get the pass, they have to get vaccinated against Covid-19 or present a negative test.
However, due to stress on testing capacities, the government is reversing the requirement.
“We don't have the infrastructure and additional capacity to regularly test children whose parents decide not to vaccinate them because of their beliefs,” Šimonytė said.
Instead, the government has decided to hand out rapid tests to children in schools on Fridays so that they can get tested before going back to classes on Monday, according to the prime minister.
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