- We will be lifting the state of epidemic emergency at the end of June. The World Health Organization has indicated that it no longer makes sense to maintain it," Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said on the Guest of Events program on Polsat News. - COVID-19 is still with us, but no longer poses a threat to public health, he added.
The epidemic emergency will be lifted. However, millions of doses of the vaccine are still sitting in warehouses
Published May 29, 2023 08:50
Fot. MedExpress TV
However, Poland still has at least several million unused doses of the COVID-19 vaccine backlog, and the Health Minister assures that steps are being taken to address the problem.
- Poland has become the leader of a kind of opposition to pharmaceutical companies. We were among the first to refuse to accept further deliveries. Now we are at the stage of renegotiating the contract," Adam Niedzielski pointed out.
As he explained, Poland, together with countries such as Hungary and Romania, is trying to bring about a situation in which further purchases will be heavily reduced. The contract signed by the European Commission, on the other hand, obliged EU countries to receive a huge number of vaccines, regardless of the epidemic situation.
- We are the only countries to use the force majeure clause. We believe that conditions have changed so much that the contract should not be continued," added the health ministry head.
The question remains open as to what will happen to the vaccines that are sitting in warehouses. Adam Niedzielski said that there have been attempts to find countries willing to accept these doses, but there has been no interest.
