The President appealed to the government: The only thing that will help us is to tighten measures and speed up vaccinations – TVNOVINY.sk

We are facing a catastrophic development, we cannot postpone difficult decisions

Once again, we are in a moment of pandemic, when difficult decisions need to be made. We cannot afford to postpone them or dodge them. Even today, we are at a point where the voice of a council of experts, scientists at the Science initiative is helping, or medical staff from hospitals are speaking clearly. We are facing a catastrophic development in hospitals, and the only way to reverse it, at least in part, is to take targeted measures to slow down the spread of the virus and to speed up vaccination. Even today, the later we do it, the more it will hurt. Many people in Slovakia have done everything required of them during the whole pandemic. I want to thank everyone who behaved responsibly and considerately to their surroundings. It is therefore appropriate that they also expect appropriate measures to be relaxed. On the other hand, if we demonstrably know that people who are many times more likely to be vaccinated in the hospital are unvaccinated, it is right to respect the voice of experts and tighten up the measures. At the current stage of a pandemic, it is no longer a political decision, but a question of the survival of many people. That is why it is also the path taken by most of the surrounding countries. And this is also the reason why countries such as Romania and Russia are already catching up with us in vaccinations, where the initial resistance to vaccination was even stronger than in our country. Steps to combat the pandemic must not be further determined by those who reject or facilitate the existence of the pandemic. Although some of them are noisier than the facts. The primary role of the state is to protect the health and lives of citizens, and it must not relinquish this role. Not even in the face of populism or threats. Let’s listen to the testimonies of front-line medics. They are confronted on a daily basis with how terrible this disease can be, they risk their health and they stand by the patients even in the last moments of their lives. Political disputes must recede for a time, and those leaders who are unable to lead by example and help health professionals should at least not resist. Nor can the humanity and generosity of paramedics to our failures be infinite.

Posted by Zuzana Caputova Tuesday, November 9, 2021