Slovak health boss out as ‘Sputnik’ spins overhead, worming drug arrives and we sit in a virtual waiting room for jabs
Slovakia’s health chief Marek Krajčí has resigned for ordering Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine.
He had been coming under pressure from the country’s four-party ruling coalition.
Slovakia followed Hungary in buying Sputnik V which doesn’t have EU authorisation.
“Two coalition parties made my resignation a condition for them to stay in the coalition. In such a situation, I think there was no point arguing… I am not glued to my seat at the ministry,” Reuters quoted Mr Krajci.
Slovakia and Hungary have sought out Sputnik V as the EU grapples with limited supplies for its vaccination campaign.
Like the Czech Republic, Slovakia is registering weekly per-capita death rates among the worst in the world.
200,000 Sputnik V doses have arrived in the country and another 800,000 doses are due to be delivered by the end of April. A million more are scheduled for May and June.
Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok, of Freedom and Solidarity, was among the most vocal critics of the vaccine purchase, taking to Facebook to call Sputnik “a tool of hybrid war [that] aims at casting doubt on the workings within the European Union.”
Meanwhile, with the European vaccine roll-out facing delays, both Slovakia and Czech have started to look outside the bloc’s borders for solutions.
In search of an answer to the pandemic, some are putting their faith in a drug for which there is no positive evidence.
Issues relating to ivermectin had been raised in the run-up to Interpol’s announcement that there were major busts of criminals peddling fake Covid-19 vaccines and masks in countries including South Africa and China.
Slovakia received a delivery of 9,000 doses of ivermectin after the Health Ministry temporarily approved the medicine for the treatment of coronavirus patients last month.
But doctors lack the basic medical information necessary to prescribe it.
“A doctor needs to offer the patient information on the indication, contraindication, dosage of the medicine and potential side effects of the medicine,” the association wrote in the letter, as quoted by the TASR newswire. “The Health Ministry has not made any of that information available to healthcare workers in Slovakia.”
Meanwhile, a new app that will serve as a virtual waiting room for Covid vaccination in Slovakia is currently in the making and should be ready in a few days.
The app comes after much criticism of the ministry when vaccination registration turned into an online hunt for vacant slots. The ministry will provide the option to sign up for vaccination using your birth number.
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One Reply to “Slovak health boss out as ‘Sputnik’ spins overhead, worming drug arrives and we sit in a virtual waiting room for jabs”
We have always had reason to believe that Russia has its share of scientific and medical efficiency. Not knowing the full details I guess that when the Sputnik vaccine becomes available to Slovakia it will be as safe and effective as any other version. Good luck to all of us.