PS: Fico Pandering to Government Proxy Kotlar Just to Keep Coalition Together

Bratislava, April 23 (TASR) - Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) is feeding Government Proxy for Investigation into Management of COVID-19 Pandemic Peter Kotlar by validating his statements in an attempt to hold his shaky coalition together, the opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party has declared in response to the government's decision to order an analysis of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19. PS criticised Fico for ordering the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV) to analyse Kotlar's statements. "Government Proxy Kotlar has already said that he won't accept the results of the analysis anyway. It's a waste of money, and Robert Fico knows this very well," emphasised PS chair Michal Simecka. House health committee vice-chair Oskar Dvorak (PS) stated that the government isn't addressing the real problems in Slovak health-care, such as the severe shortage of nurses, increasingly long waiting times or even the decision as to where a new hospital in Bratislava should be built. Dvorak considers the analysis of vaccines to be a desperate move simply to avoid angering Kotlar. Member of the House education, science, youth, sport and tourism committee Tina Gazovicova (PS) claimed that Fico wants to control science. "The scientific community should not let itself get dragged into these authoritarian theatrics," she said. On Wednesday, the Slovak government tasked Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) with immediately requesting the Biomedical Center of the SAV to prepare a comprehensive report on a quantitative analysis of the presence of DNA and other substances in selected retention batches of vaccines used against COVID-19 in Slovakia. SAV is also supposed to prepare an expert and forensic assessment of the impact of these substances on the human body. After the government meeting, Fico stated that until this quantitative analysis of vaccine samples for the presence of DNA and other substances is completed, Slovakia will suspend the agreed acquisition of COVID mRNA vaccines. mf/df