The order of the Commander of the National Armed Forces "On Preparation for Covid-19 Vaccination" that was leaked on social networks has caused a bad resonance. Non-vaccination enthusiasts consider the protection of soldiers from the disease to be nonsense and sow discontent about the mandatory vaccination.
Soldiers and the National Guard have for many years become accustomed to the fact that their tasks involve certain health risks, including possibly catching various diseases. Both when serving in foreign missions, as well as catching ticks here in the forests of Latvia. Therefore, soldiers and the National Guard are vaccinated against these diseases. And this is mandatory because the risk of getting sick is too high. For example, with tickborne encephalitis. The obligatory vaccination is determined by the Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No. 330 of September 26, 2000 - Vaccination regulations. If you want to work in the army and be healthy - get vaccinated. Don't want to be healthy - go work elsewhere. Seems logical.
Of course, there was no Covid in 2000, and this new plague is not specifically mentioned in government regulations. However, specific occupational infections are mentioned. And it is possible to become infected with Covid while performing official duties. Rather, the confusion could be caused by the fact that the Ministry of Defense has decided to use a different strategy for vaccination against Covid-19: “In order to be able to perform service duties in Latvia and abroad, as well as to ensure state protection, it is planned to vaccinate soldiers of the Professional Service of the National Armed Forces. Vaccination will be voluntary for the National Guard." Such information is provided by the Military Public Affairs Department of the Ministry of Defense. At the same time, in the order of the NAF Commander Leonīds Kalniņš, which has been leaked and continues to be distributed by the so-called anti-vaxxers, the word “voluntary” really is not mentioned and neither is the word “mandatory”.
From the text of the order, one could just as well understand that vaccination is planned for absolutely everyone. This may have been the goal - to make the text so that only a part of the army can be vaccinated based on it but if there is enough free vaccine, then absolutely everyone could be. Here are the key points of the command:
“1. In order to ensure the readiness of the personnel necessary to perform the tasks specified by the NAF, Covid-19 vaccination shall be performed:
1.1 On all professional service (PS) soldiers, except in cases when it is not possible to do so due to a health condition (there are contraindications);
1.2 Providing the maximum possible immunization coverage for the NAF civilian personnel (CP) and National Guard (NG), taking into account the cases when it is not possible to implement it due to a health condition (there are contraindications).”
Apparently, the army's lawyers prepare and read the texts differently from ordinary mortals, and the commander's order does indeed record the voluntary vaccination of National Guard and civilian army personnel. Perhaps the real keyword is "all" in clause 1.1. However, in this case, the question may arise as to why such personnel sorting is necessary.
Ever since the introduction of the curfew, the National Guards have been helping the police to ensure public safety, including in places where the risk of infection is relatively high, such as night shelters. It would be useful to vaccinate these National Guards. Neatkarīgā asked the Ministry of Defense for an explanation as to why vaccination against Covid-19 is not mandatory for the entire army, while vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis is. Even though there is currently a higher risk of infection, infecting others and death from Covid-19 than death from encephalitis. The Military Public Affairs Department explains it as follows:
"People join the National Guard voluntarily and perform their duties in their spare time, so they cannot be treated in the same way as professional soldiers."
But why, in that case, is a tick vaccine compulsory for people who perform their duties in their spare time?
Because paragraph 37 of the Vaccination Regulations states this:
"Vaccination against tickborne encephalitis of forest workers, forest rangers, foresters, chief foresters, State environment inspectors, personnel of the National Armed Forces, employees of the system of institutions of the Ministry of the Interior with special service ranks who while performing service duties are exposed to the risk of becoming infected with tickborne encephalitis, employees of microbiological laboratories who work with active tickborne encephalitis virus, and other persons who come into direct contact with hosts of tickborne encephalitis while performing work duties or during studies shall be mandatory."
Theoretically, the government could include Covid-19 in the same regulations No. 330 and make vaccination mandatory for National Armed Forces personnel. So for everyone, regardless of the specifics of the service and the degree of volunteering. The law wouldn't even need to be amended and the Saeima wouldn't need to be involved.
But at the moment, vaccination on this scale is like science fiction, because the Latvian government has not known how to negotiate and buy a large amount of vaccine against the deadly disease. Vaccines are imported in pathetically small portions, only for the select few. In addition, the army has to wait in line behind the priority groups of the society to be vaccinated - doctors, social housing residents, the elderly and the chronically ill. They still have months to wait.