SaS Criticises Government for Ignoring SAV Vaccine Safety Report (2)

Bratislava, 27 August (TASR) – The opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party has criticised the government for failing to discuss the Slovak Academy of Sciences' (SAV) report on COVID-19 vaccine safety during its away-from-home session on Wednesday, party leader Branislav Groehling stated on the same day. According to Groehling, the first demand of coalition party Voice–SD should have been the dismissal of Government Proxy for Investigating the COVID-19 Pandemic Management Peter Kotlar. According to Grohling, Voice-SD ministers are more concerned with holding onto their government posts. "This was a regular government session with a scheduled agenda to be discussed, but it's a problem because they don't know how to handle it," said Groehling regarding the absence of any discussion of the SAV analysis. He expressed concern that the document may ultimately not be made public. "Of course, it should have been included on the agenda, and at the same time, Kotlar should have been removed from his post," said Groehling at a press conference. He added that Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) should clearly state that Kotlar has no place in his current post. Groehling believes that the governing coalition needs Kotlar for the sake of political stability, which is why Voice-SD continues to tolerate him. Opposition MP Veronika Remisova ('Slovakia'-For the People- Christian Union alliance) also called on Sasko and Education Minister Tomas Drucker (Voice-SD) to publicly condemn attacks by Kotlar and Smer-SD MEP Lubos Blaha on SAS scientists and to push for Kotlar’s dismissal. If they fail to do so, she said, they should resign. „I expect ministers Sasko and Drucker to find the courage to clearly distance themselves from the insane and socially dangerous behaviour of their political allies. If they are unable to do so and continue to tolerate Kotlar in his role, they will become complicit in the continued moral decay of the state and should immediately resign," said Remisova in a statement. According to Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD), the SAS analysis will not be included in next week’s cabinet agenda either. He said he did not want to burden Wednesday’s session in Senica with other issues. Fico reiterated full support for Kotlar and declared that he would not allow any pressure for his resignation. The SAV analysis established that mRNA vaccines contain only trace amounts of DNA molecules, far below approved limits. The risks Kotlar pointed to were not confirmed, and SAV argued that claims of high DNA content were based on incorrect methods or misinterpreted results. They labelled such claims as erroneous and misleading. mf/df