Post by Nadica (She/Her) on Oct 11, 2024 1:41:54 GMT
Slovak government mulls ban on mRNA vaccines - Published Oct 10, 2024
The Slovak government is considering banning mNRA Covid vaccines following the publication of a controversial report into the management of the pandemic that helped prompt the country’s health minister to quit.
The report was produced by an investigative commission led by Peter Kotlar, a member of the ruling Slovak National Party who opposed the vaccination process during the pandemic.
At a press conference on October 2, Kotlar said that he had submitted the report to the government and that he recommended “stopping inoculation with mRNA vaccines until its proven they are safe.”
The mRNA jabs alter human DNA, have been inadequately tested and are therefore dangerous, he also claimed. Kotlar went on to call the COVID pandemic an “act of bioterrorism,” according to the TASR news agency, while also calling it a “fabricated operation.”
The comments along with the report, it appears, contributed to Zuzana Dolinková, Slovakia’s health minister, stepping down on Friday.
Although she highlighted other factors such as the insufficient prioritization of health care, she also rounded on Kotlar and his report.
"How is it possible that, on the one hand, the minister has to tidy up a decade of unresolved issues in the health sector within 11 months, while on the other hand, they must deal with questions about whether or not there is a pandemic, whether vaccines alter our DNA, or if we are being microchipped?" she was quoted as saying by the Euractiv website.
“You cannot fight against unscientific facts. Mr Kotlar's ideas continue to find support in the government coalition, while they have no support in the world's scientific circles,” she added.
Despite the resignation of the health minister, Kotlar’s call for a ban on mRNA vaccines has received support from Robert Fico, the Slovak prime minister.
“You all know that I personally have always been against experimental vaccines against COVID,” Fico said in his address to the nation published on Facebook at the weekend.
He added that he had “many acquaintances” who had experienced significant health problems after the COVID vaccination. He also requested Kotlar to find out who in Slovakia had significantly profited from the “unnecessary purchase of medical supplies and vaccines.”
Slovakia hit hard by COVID
Slovakia was among the hardest hit countries in the world in terms of the number of deaths related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the five million inhabitants, 21,000 people died because of disease.
Some critics put this down to a poor and underfunded healthcare system, distrust of modern Western vaccines, and underestimation of the virus itself.
Mistrust of Western vaccines led many to only want to be vaccinated with the Russian vaccine Sputnik, a viral vector vaccine as opposed to mRNA. In spring 2021, the then prime minister, Igor Matovič, sent a government delegation to Moscow to stock up on Sputnik.
However, the EU did not recognize the Russian vaccine, and it was ultimately not accepted in Slovakia either. Consequently, the vaccine doses had to be destroyed.
Nonetheless, Fico’s government maintains its opposition to mRNA vaccines and its doubts about the pandemic. As a first step, it announced that it would end its cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO) on the COVID issue, German news service Deutsche Welle (DW) reported.
Criticism of the report
There have, however, been many critical voices fervently pushing back against the current government’s stance.
“This shows where Slovakia has ended up after a year under Robert Fico's government,” Slovak political scientist Grigory Mesezhnikov, president of the Bratislava-based Institute for Research on Public Issues (IVO), told DW.
“As scientists who have been involved in virus research for a long time, we are deeply concerned about the claims Kotlar has presented to the public,” a group of experts stated on the website of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.
“The views presented question facts that have been verified and accepted by the global expert community and the relevant authorities, and cause unease among the public,” they added.
The Slovak government is considering banning mNRA Covid vaccines following the publication of a controversial report into the management of the pandemic that helped prompt the country’s health minister to quit.
The report was produced by an investigative commission led by Peter Kotlar, a member of the ruling Slovak National Party who opposed the vaccination process during the pandemic.
At a press conference on October 2, Kotlar said that he had submitted the report to the government and that he recommended “stopping inoculation with mRNA vaccines until its proven they are safe.”
The mRNA jabs alter human DNA, have been inadequately tested and are therefore dangerous, he also claimed. Kotlar went on to call the COVID pandemic an “act of bioterrorism,” according to the TASR news agency, while also calling it a “fabricated operation.”
The comments along with the report, it appears, contributed to Zuzana Dolinková, Slovakia’s health minister, stepping down on Friday.
Although she highlighted other factors such as the insufficient prioritization of health care, she also rounded on Kotlar and his report.
"How is it possible that, on the one hand, the minister has to tidy up a decade of unresolved issues in the health sector within 11 months, while on the other hand, they must deal with questions about whether or not there is a pandemic, whether vaccines alter our DNA, or if we are being microchipped?" she was quoted as saying by the Euractiv website.
“You cannot fight against unscientific facts. Mr Kotlar's ideas continue to find support in the government coalition, while they have no support in the world's scientific circles,” she added.
Despite the resignation of the health minister, Kotlar’s call for a ban on mRNA vaccines has received support from Robert Fico, the Slovak prime minister.
“You all know that I personally have always been against experimental vaccines against COVID,” Fico said in his address to the nation published on Facebook at the weekend.
He added that he had “many acquaintances” who had experienced significant health problems after the COVID vaccination. He also requested Kotlar to find out who in Slovakia had significantly profited from the “unnecessary purchase of medical supplies and vaccines.”
Slovakia hit hard by COVID
Slovakia was among the hardest hit countries in the world in terms of the number of deaths related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the five million inhabitants, 21,000 people died because of disease.
Some critics put this down to a poor and underfunded healthcare system, distrust of modern Western vaccines, and underestimation of the virus itself.
Mistrust of Western vaccines led many to only want to be vaccinated with the Russian vaccine Sputnik, a viral vector vaccine as opposed to mRNA. In spring 2021, the then prime minister, Igor Matovič, sent a government delegation to Moscow to stock up on Sputnik.
However, the EU did not recognize the Russian vaccine, and it was ultimately not accepted in Slovakia either. Consequently, the vaccine doses had to be destroyed.
Nonetheless, Fico’s government maintains its opposition to mRNA vaccines and its doubts about the pandemic. As a first step, it announced that it would end its cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO) on the COVID issue, German news service Deutsche Welle (DW) reported.
Criticism of the report
There have, however, been many critical voices fervently pushing back against the current government’s stance.
“This shows where Slovakia has ended up after a year under Robert Fico's government,” Slovak political scientist Grigory Mesezhnikov, president of the Bratislava-based Institute for Research on Public Issues (IVO), told DW.
“As scientists who have been involved in virus research for a long time, we are deeply concerned about the claims Kotlar has presented to the public,” a group of experts stated on the website of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.
“The views presented question facts that have been verified and accepted by the global expert community and the relevant authorities, and cause unease among the public,” they added.