According to the data from the Ministry of Social Security and Labor, there are approximately 13,000 people currently residing in Lithuania’s care facilities, which have a staff of more than 8,000. Approximately 40 percent of those patients and staff members have already had COVID-19 and will not be vaccinated.
Rapid antibody tests will be carried out before administering a vaccine shot in order to determine whether a person had COVID-198 without knowing. Those who have positive results will not be vaccinated, either.
“According to preliminary estimations, we will need up to 20,000 shots for care institutions for both doses,” Vilma Augiene, Social Security and Labor Deputy Minister, said at a news conference on Monday.
The first dose of the vaccine should be administered over five days. Vaccination is being organized by municipal primary healthcare centers.
More than 22,500 people have already received COVID-19 vaccine shots in Lithuania, according to the data from Statistics Lithuania.
Lithuania uses the BioNTech/Pfizer coronavirus vaccine – the first vaccine authorized for use in the European Union.