Health Ministry: Pandemic Expert Group Has No Decision-making Powers

Bratislava, April 10 (TASR) - The expert working group on the information provided by the Government Proxy for Investigation into the COVID-19 Pandemic Management Peter Kotlar (SNS) regarding the results of an analysis of retained vaccine batches for COVID-19 will not have decision-making powers and will instead serve as an advisory body to the minister, with its representatives primarily nominated by health-care institutions, reads the draft statute of the group, submitted for comments by the Health Ministry. "The working group is an expert advisory body to the health minister, set to perform consultative, expert and coordination tasks with the goal of drafting an expert opinion and reviewing potential measures related to oral information provided by the government proxy," the ministry stated in the document. According to the draft, the advisory body will have a total of seven members, including the chair. The Health Ministry will nominate two members, while one member each will be proposed by the Public Health Authority, the Office for Supervision of Health Care, the National Health Information Centre, the State Institute for Drug Control and the Slovak Academy of Sciences. If the government approves the proposal in this form, all members will be appointed by the minister, with the chairperson of the group to be nominated by the ministry. In March, the government acknowledged an oral report by Kotlar on the results of an analysis of retained vaccine batches for COVID-19. According to Kotlar, mRNA vaccines pose a danger to public health. He is expected to provide full cooperation to the working group during the preparation of the expert opinion. mf/df