In his words, the office of the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen notified that the vaccines should be delivered to Lithuania and other EU member states by December 26.
The Lithuanian presidential office said in a statement that, in Nauseda's opinion, "vaccination should start in Lithuania the very next day".
"The European Commission president said the first vaccines would be delivered to EU states by December 26. Lithuania will proportionally get 0.6 percent of the first batch, i.e., several thousand doses. As other states, Lithuania will get a pre-agreed number of vaccines, calculated in proportion to its population, to ensure transparent distribution of the vaccines within the European Union. As soon as the vaccines is received, Lithuania will start vaccinating its citizens," Nauseda said.
The European Medicines Agency is expected to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine on December 21. In Lithuania, medics will be the first in line to get the jab, as well as people in the biggest risk group, which includes seniors.
Nauseda also said he and Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte on Thursday had a phone conversation and discussed "the need to step up preparations for vaccination and ensure an efficient vaccination process in Lithuania next week already".
Health Minister Arunas Dulkys says Lithuania now plans to buy 7.2 million vaccine doses, adding that 65 million euros have been allocated for that purpose in next year's budget. The first batch of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine should be enough to immunize some 5,000 people.
Lithuania is currently one of the countries worst affected by the coronavirus in Europe and the world.