Passions for compulsory vaccination: should Lithuania follow Europe’s example? – ALWAYS
Recently, a new strain of coronavirus omicron scares the world, and European countries are announcing one after another mandatory vaccinations and fines for failing to do so. This Monday’s TV3 news program “Karštai su tv3.lt” will ask – should Lithuania follow the example of other countries and introduce compulsory vaccination in our country?
The former European Commissioner, the WHO Special Envoy for the European Region Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis and the Head of the Institute of Health Law, Dr. Rimantas Jankūnas, will discuss this in the studio this Monday evening.
Penalties have already been imposed on non-vaccinators in Austria and Greece. In Greece, pensioners are fined € 100 a month if they refuse to be vaccinated. Austrians are threatening their residents with twice the fines. After the European Commission talked about mandatory vaccinations, the question also arose in our country – will vaccinations be mandatory in Lithuania as well?
V. Andriukaitis will say in the show that such sanctions are still available only to Greece and Austria, while discussions are still taking place in other countries. Lithuania is no exception. According to him, the most important thing is to rely on research, not public opinion, because it is a power in itself, but certainly not a criterion that should be important in a scientific context: But the scientific basis for compulsory vaccination is there. ”
The former European Commissioner is convinced that it is necessary to find out whether compulsory vaccination should be applied in Lithuania as well, it is worth examining almost two ongoing processes in our country, how we deal with pandemic levels, morbidity, mortality and infection rates. “Unfortunately, Lithuania is not one of those countries that is doing very well – in the context of all the countries of the European Union, we belong to the average. Is there a need to discuss compulsory vaccination? In my opinion, it is necessary, “he will say.
Meanwhile, R. Jankūnas opposes this, believing that clinical trials do not provide any basis for compulsory vaccination – neither medical nor ethical. According to him, the most important thing is to focus on the number of excess deaths – how many deaths have increased compared to the average.
“We understand that the most important thing is not to die – everything else is after. What is morbidity? Does it matter how much a mild illness is? Not really, right? Hospitals – important, but most importantly living. “What dies is a secondary thing, because the most important thing for a person is to live,” he will say.
For his part, V. Andriukaitis will disagree with his colleague, saying that the clinical data around the world are accurate enough, and the excess deaths are caused not only by the pandemic, but also by its poor management.
“The third aspect is the number of people with mild form. You will probably agree that there is a significant percentage of people in society who have no reports at all. There are those that are mild to moderate. But people who don’t feel it have one problem – it’s the transmission of the virus and its mutation. This is a very terrible global phenomenon. The worst part of a virus can mutate is that there are many people in the world who have not been exposed to it, who have not been vaccinated or who are easily ill and who have the potential to mutate, ”he said.
R. Jankūnas will take a different opinion here as well. According to him, there is no clear evidence that vaccines reduce the spread of the virus, and mutations can not only lead to non-vaccination. “Natural immunity is multifaceted. Hence, the future of the virus is harder for him. Some say not vaccinating the mutation, others say it’s a vaccine, “he said.
So how is it really? Should Lithuania decide on compulsory vaccination? Or maybe there is no reason for that?
Show “Hot with tv3.lt” – on Mondays, 7.30 pm. on TV3!