Will President Andrzej Duda thwart the government's plans to vaccinate against COVID-19?

What's more, there are signals from the government that work is underway on other regulations, which would make the use of some services subject to the presentation of a covid certificate only, and would exclude entrepreneurs serving only vaccinated people from under a possible lockdown.

Andrzej Duda spoke about his negative attitude towards compulsory vaccination of adults already in 2020 during the election campaign. Now he repeated his opinion also in the context of vaccinating children before the school year. The Cabinet Council was convened by the president in connection with the next pandemic year of study that started on Wednesday.

- It is the obligation of the Polish state to ensure that the vaccination is possible. You can encourage, create educational programs, but without using compulsory solutions - said Andrzej Duda. - I would like to tell the Prime Minister and to you one thing: I am absolutely against compulsory vaccination. I believe that it will cause social unrest - emphasized Duda

As he added, "whether the parent decides to consent to the child being vaccinated, or whether the parent decides to vaccinate himself - everyone should make such a decision himself."

Although experts warn that the current number of infections does not reflect the seriousness of the situation Poland may face in 3-4 weeks (mainly due to the low degree of vaccination, especially outside the largest agglomerations), the president also shared his assessment. - The situation does not seem alarming at the moment. If the number of observed daily cases varies between 150 and 250, then this is not an alarming number, considering that we have 38 million citizens.

- Parents are concerned that there will be another lockdown, that their children will not go to school. They fear this because of the children's situation. Long-term lack of contact with their peers does not have a positive effect on their mental condition - emphasized the president, but immediately pointed out that the concerns of parents do not end there. The second problem parents fear is that "there could be compulsory immunization of children." - I would like to tell the Prime Minister and to you one thing: I am absolutely against compulsory vaccination. I believe that this will cause social unrest, I believe that it is a matter of people's responsibility and everyone should bear this responsibility alone - emphasized Duda. - Whether the parent decides to consent to the child being vaccinated, or whether the parent decides to vaccinate himself - everyone should make such a decision personally - added the president. The state, in his opinion, has a duty to provide everyone with the opportunity to be vaccinated. - Compulsory vaccinations are border crossing that we cannot afford - he assessed. As justification, he gave the "national character" and "perversity" of Poles. - If people are forced to do so, we will have a bad social situation that will really worsen the mood - he added.