Czech President Milos Zeman demands the dismissal of Health Minister Jan Blatny and Irena Storova, the Director of the State Institute for Drug Control (SUKL), for rejecting the use of the Russian coronavirus vaccine.

By rejecting the use of the Sputnik V vaccine, Jan Blatny and Irena Storova „are personally responsible for the deaths of those who died of Covid-19 in the Czech Republic,” Czech President Milos Zeman said in a conversation published by the online news portal Parlamentni Listy on Wednesday.   

President Zeman is urging the use of the Russian Sputnik V and the Chinese Sinopharm jabs in Czechia s anti-Covid vaccination campaign. The health minister, however, insists on the position that the Russian and Chinese jabs can only be used once they have been approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). This position was jointly expressed a week ago by the Czech head of state, the premier, and the speaker of the house at their meeting in Prague.

However, the president has now called on SUKL to approve the Russian and Chinese vaccines without delay, even before they receive approval from European institutions. 

The president will meet with Prime Minister Andrej Babis on 22 March to demand the health minister s dismissal. The appointment of SUKL s president is within the health minister s remit. According to Zeman, Blatny s appointment as minister was a mistake, he is not competent and not an epidemiologial expert, and he also lacks managerial expertise. The president stressed that a refusal from Mr Babis would affect their friendly relationship. 

According to Zeman, there is a great interest in the world for the Russsian vaccine. „For me, it means that if we do not use the Russian or the Chinese jabs, these two people will be responsible for the unnecessary deaths of our citizens in the future,” the president said.

He said the Czech Republic had received an offer to join Germany and Russia in the production of Sputnik V in a German province, which he did not specify.

President Zeman also announced that he would demand the dismissal of Social Democratic Foreign Minister Tomas Petricek, but he did not detail why.