President: Coronavirus Victims and Bereaved Deserve That We Never Forget

Bratislava, March 6 (TASR) - The victims of the coronavirus pandemic and those who are still grieving deserve that we should learn from the whole situation, come to terms with the past, but never forget it, said President Peter Pellegrini following a meeting with families and friends of COVID-19 victims that he held to mark Coronavirus Pandemic Victims Remembrance Day on Thursday. According to him, the pandemic can't be viewed as a short period of history. "It was a serious event that we hadn't faced in decades," he stressed. He isn't sure whether the way in which this period was handled in Slovakia has been concluded at the managerial and professional levels. Quite the opposite, he feels that the discussion is more focused on conspiracies about the origin of the disease. "I refuse to deal with things that have come really close to various conspiracies and theories stating that there was no COVID or that it was imported from somewhere," he said, stressing that he'll always stand on the side of expertise and facts. The head of state thinks that Government Proxy for Investigating COVID-19 Pandemic Management Peter Kotlar shouldn't come up with fantasies about mRNA vaccines, but with an assessment of how the pandemic was managed. "I expected that the government proxy for coronavirus would give us the answers that these people are waiting for: where there were mistakes in managing the second wave, the third wave, which measures didn't work, which, on the contrary, worked very well, whether any decision caused a greater number of victims and whether or not someone should bear political or criminal responsibility for this," he stated. He declared that he'll make a decision on the potential signing of a coronavirus amnesty law in a very responsible manner. "If such a law gets to me at all," he added. Pellegrini criticised the fact that no site has yet been created in Slovakia where people can commemorate the victims of the pandemic. He called on Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) to find the money to build the monument from the premier's reserve. He also praised the work of the Actual Victims NGO, which helped the bereaved cope with the loss of their loved ones and thanked all health-care workers who provided assistance during the pandemic. ko/df