Karins proposes mandatory vaccination against Covid-19 for all residents over 50

RIGA - Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins (New Unity) proposes mandatory vaccination against Covid-19 for all people over 50.

The prime minister said at the government meeting that if vaccination is not promoted during the four-week lockdown, the lockdown will have been in vain.

Health Minister Daniels Pavluts (For Development/For) said that "we have limited tools for stimulating vaccination among elderly people and risk groups". At the same time, this proposal might bring along legal challenges.

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Janis Bordans (New Conservative Party) said that in his opinion, it is much more useful to set vaccination mandatory for certain jobs.

Welfare Minister Gatis Eglitis supported the prime minister's proposal.

Finance Minister Janis Reirs (New Unity) said that, in his opinion, Latvia should do everything possible to vaccinate senior citizens. He believe that they should be addressed personally and cooperation with NGOs should be promoted to achieve this goal.

Transport Minister Talis Linkaits (New Conservative Party) said that vaccination rate among young people is much higher than in the group of elderly people. Linkaits said that inactive citizens, for example, living in the country should be addressed, where access to vaccines is a problem.

Education and Science Minister Anita Muizniece (New Conservative Party) said that regulation on mandatory vaccination for all people over the age of 50 might not be the right way as not all ways to address senior citizens have been used.

Interior Minister Marija Golubeva (For Development/For) said that the proposal on mandatory vaccination should be weighed carefully.

As reported, according to vaccination data, up to and including 18 October, 1.03 million people in Latvia have received the first vaccine dose against Covid-19 or the single-dose vaccine manufactured by Johnson & Johnson (J&J), while 941,000, or 50 percent have completed the full vaccination course.

So far, 50 percent of Latvian residents have completed the immunization process.