OREANDA-NEWS. The Lithuanian authorities can start paying 100 euros to pensioners over 75 years old, if they voluntarily agree to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. LRT writes about this with reference to the Minister of Protection and Labor Monika Navickiene.

Officials have already prepared a corresponding draft and intend to transfer its discussion to the government and the Seimas in the coming days. With such payments, they want to reduce the number of deaths of their citizens and reduce the burden on health care during a new wave of infection. "Let us emphasize that the mortality rate is the highest in the age group of 75 and older. If we look at all deaths from COVID-19, that's about two thirds of all deaths," Navickiene said.

According to her, now there are about 270 thousand people in this age category in the country, but 80 thousand did not want to be vaccinated. "This decision is not easy and not joyful for me personally, but it is an extreme means of encouraging people, and if we are talking about money that will allow us to save more lives, so be it," the minister said.

In turn, the head of the Ministry of Health of the republic, Arunas Dulkis, questioned the long-term effect of such an approach for the immunization of citizens. He assured that he was ready to discuss the initiative of his colleague, but pointed out the need for an independent decision on vaccination for each resident of the country. "Now we are talking not only about vaccinations, but also about our approaches to health," the official said.