Filenews 5 April 2021
With the age group of 61 and older, the implementation of the National Vaccination Plan against COVID-19 is progressing from Wednesday.
In statements on the sidelines of the supplementary budget debate in the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Mr Ioannou noted that much of the Supplementary Budget concerns health expenditure for the General Health System. In particular, €60 million relates to additional expenditure to tackle the pandemic and to support our strategy.
'In summary, this EUR 60 million will be used to fund the development of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB). The additional purchase of vaccines, the purchase of diagnostic testing services, the purchase of services for the staffing of the Tracing Team, the Epidemiological Surveillance Unit and the Public Health Clinics, the purchase of services from the hospitality centre in Eden and various other services.
This shows the state's support for the strategy that has been decided and is based on the pillars of testing, vaccinations and adherence to health protocols," he said.
Regarding the conduct of the tests, the Minister explained that "it is a key pillar of our strategy because in addition to giving us a direct picture of the epidemiological situation, we detect infections in a timely manner, isolate them and thus prevent the spread of the virus. For example, more than 350,000 tests were carried out last week , a huge number for Cyprus data, almost half of the population over the age of 18 has been tested in a week, while other countries are trying to adopt this strategy. Today England announces a population test with the de-escalation of measures, in other countries it is part of their planning. We are going with this strategy."
At the same time, the Minister of Health continued, "our vaccination plan is also being strengthened. This week we will receive more than 60,000 doses , on Wednesday the Vaccination Portal will open for people 61years of age and older , on Friday or Saturday for people over 57 or 58 years of age depending on the demand that will exist, as for other groups of vulnerable and is expected to intensify in the coming weeks."
Asked to comment on what is being said about irregularities in the issue of rapid tests, Mr Ioannou noted that "as the Director-General has explained, in the audit that is being carried out - and precisely because of these intensive audits - he had been identified in a company where they invoiced more than the tests they were carrying out. This has been identified and the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Police are already aware and have taken the path of justice."
Asked if cooperation with this company was interrupted, the Minister of Health replied in the affirmative. "As long as this issue exists, there can be no cooperation. These issues are handled by the Directorate-General of the Ministry of Health and arose precisely through the intensive checks carried out on a daily basis to ensure that there is nothing wrong," he said.
Asked if, in addition to the interruption of cooperation, the Ministry can claim a refund, Mr. Ioannou clarified that these are matters of a legal nature and the Ministry will do anything that the Legal Service advises him, as the legal adviser of the State.
On vaccinations, when asked if citizens' hesitation about the AstraZeneca vaccine has been overcome, the Minister made it clear that "all four approved vaccines are both effective and safe. Some countries are taking - and this is confusing to the world - other actions. We follow the recommendations of the European Medicines Agency, which is responsible for the matter. For example, the same countries that three weeks ago adopted the policy of not giving to the over-65s are now being told not to give to the under-60s, and this is confusing to the population of these countries. We didn't follow that tactic. We follow the tactic of proper information based on scientific evidence." He added that the confusion in the world is understandable because of what is happening in other countries, but reiterated that "there is no question of either safety or effectiveness. We're moving forward with vaccinations. People are making appointments with all available vaccines.
In a journalist's comment that citizens, seeing health professionals not being vaccinated, are likely to follow suit, Mr Ioannou rejected the refusal to vaccinate citizens. "The world does not follow the example of some health professionals who have not been vaccinated. Vaccination coverage for people aged 80 and over is over 80% and over 75% for the 70-79 age group. At least the general population does not follow the example of some of the nurses who were not vaccinated", stressed the Minister.
Finally, when asked if thoughts are being made to follow the practice applied to health professionals for teachers who are not subjected to a rapid test, and not to be allowed to come to their workplace, the Minister of Health replied that there are no thoughts of implementing this policy at the moment.
Source: eyenews
