In what the Polish media has dubbed a jabs-for-celebrities scandal, a medical centre owned by the Warsaw Medical University last week administered anti-coronavirus shots to 18 people including household-name actors and politicians.
Jabs in Poland are for the time being supposed to be offered to frontline healthcare workers and their families, though there are a few exceptions.
Actors and politicians who jumped the queue have said they thought they were taking part in a campaign to promote vaccinations in Poland, and that they would be inoculated from a pool of shots which could have been wasted otherwise, public broadcaster Polish Radio reported.
But the health ministry has cast doubt on that version of events.
Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said on Tuesday that the celebrities who received jabs were registered in an online patient healthcare system a day before a list of exceptions was published under which some non-medical personnel could also be vaccinated.
According to the new guidelines, which were published on December 29, people aged over 60, residents of nursing homes, teachers, soldiers and police are among those who can line up for vaccinations, but only if medical staff are unavailable to receive shots at that time.
On Monday, the Polish health ministry began what it called “detailed checks” of the vaccination qualification process at the medical centre where the shots were given to the celebrities.
On Tuesday, Niedzielski said that “irregularities found only on the first day of the checks are cause for imposing a fine of at least PLN 250,000”, some USD 67,000 or EUR 55,000.
The list of celebrities who jumped the queue for shots includes former Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller and well-known Polish actors Krystyna Janda, Andrzej Seweryn and Wiktor Zborowski.
Poles who are not in priority groups will be able to sign up for COVID-19 shots from January 15.
Poland plans to start giving anti-coronavirus shots to pensioners and teachers on January 25.
The prime minister’s chief of staff, Michał Dworczyk, said on Monday that Poland plans to vaccinate 2.94 million people for COVID-19 in the first quarter of this year.
Poland on Tuesday reported 7,624 new coronavirus infections and 341 more deaths, bringing its total number of cases to 1,330,543 and fatalities to 29,502.
(jh/pk)
Source: PAP, Polskie Radio