Health Minister Vili Beros said on Thursday that anyone making their opinion on epidemiological measures and vaccination public should say if they had received money from the pharmaceutical industry, confirming that talks were underway on the procurement of a drug helping Covid-19 patients.

I support that view, not only in the current coronavirus crisis, and the industry does have influence, he said in response to a query from Stephen Nikola Bartulica of the Homeland Movement, who asked if persons speaking about vaccination and epidemiological rules should state if they had received money from the pharmaceutical industry in the past five years.

During the parliamentary debate on changes to the Act on the Protection of the Population Against Infectious Diseases, which envisage fines of up to HRK 50,000 for responsible persons who do not comply with the Covid-19 certificate mandate in bodies of public law, HDZ deputies had no doubts as to the usefulness of the certificates while some opposition deputies claimed they had been introduced unlawfully.

Talks underway with two big companies on drug procurement

Beros said that all decisions made by the coronavirus response team were lawful, that vaccination was not mandatory and as for Covid-19 certificates, he said that those who did not want to get vaccinated had the option of testing.

He said the three main reasons for the large number of unvaccinated people were distrust of public policies, unwillingness to sacrifice some of personal convenience for one’s community as well as “the type of messages we all send.”

Answering a question by Homeland Movement MP Stipo Mlinaric, Beros confirmed that Croatia was negotiating the procurement of a certain quantity of a drug that helps Covid-19 patients.

He said that talks were underway with two big companies working on the drugs and that once confirmation was received that they could be used, Croatia would do its best to obtain them.

Asked by deputies what kind of anti-epidemic measures Croatia could expect for Christmas, he said that they would depend on the epidemiological situation.

The situation has been improving, and if it does not deteriorate, there will be no new measures, he said.

In response to a question by GLAS MP Anka Mrak-Taritas, Beros said that Croatia has a high number of Covid-19 fatalities because of an insufficient vaccination rate.

Since vaccine was invented, any death is unnecessary

“Since the vaccine was invented, any death is superfluous and could have been prevented, except in extreme cases,” he said, dismissing accusations that the health system had not responded to the crisis adequately.

Answering a question from Andreja Maric of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), he said that nobody had said that the Covid-19 certificate mandate, introduced in the state and public sector, would not be introduced also in other sectors if the situation worsened.

Beros said the only alternative to Covid certificates was lockdown, as evidenced by the number of positive cases identified among those tested.