Leaving pensioners waiting without an appointment while vaccinating 16-year-olds is a misunderstanding of the situation, Igor Matovic warned. The Slovak finance minister announced that the deadline for registering and getting vaccinated will be extended so that everyone can receive the bonus payment.

Igor Matovic has called on the health ministry to ramp up vaccination rollout and to prioritise those 60 and older when appointments are assigned. With 100 thousand people currently waiting to be vaccinated, the conditions set for receiving a bonus payment for getting inoculated have been changed. In early December, the Slovak government decided to pay a 300-euro bonus to individuals aged 60 and over who participate in the vaccination drive and get jabbed by the end of 2021. Because of the slow pace of administering vaccines, the finance minister announced that the deadline will be extended, the Hungarian language Slovakian news portal Új Szó reports.

Under the original conditions, those who had been administered the second jab by 15 October were required to register for the third shot by 31 December and to have received the booster dose by 15 January at the latest. However, following an online meeting yesterday, the government decided to

extend the deadline for registration and getting vaccinated until mid-January and the end of the month respectively.

Those given the one-shot Janssen jab should receive their booster dose by 1 March.

Mr Matovic slammed the health ministry for the sluggishness of the vaccination rollout, saying it has failed regarding the vaccination campaign.

Nearly 50 thousand seniors over 60 are registered in the electronic waiting room, and another 54 thousand have been assigned an appointment time but have not yet been vaccinated. A daily average of 6 thousand elderly people have been administered the vaccine in the last 10 days. It is irresponsible that those in the most-at-risk group have to wait for weeks for the vaccine, the finance minister underlined. He urged the health ministry to prioritise and inoculate seniors without delay, whether or not they have registered.

Leaving pensioners waiting without an appointment while vaccinating 16-year-olds is a misunderstanding of the situation,

he said.