Daily Times

Thirteen of the Polish prime minister’s 17 medical advisers on coronavirus resigned on Friday, accusing the populist conservative government of inaction in the face of the pandemic. The disillusioned members of the Covid-19 medical advisory committee said in a statement they were quitting because of the “the lack of impact” their recommendations had had on government action. Their announcement, published by Poland’s PAP news agency, came just days after the country of 38 million recorded its 100,000th Covid death. The doctors accused the government of “increasingly tolerating the behaviour of sections of society who deny the threat posed by Covid-19 and the importance of vaccination to combat the pandemic”. Members of the government and other figures in authority had also denied the risks, they added. The advisers blamed the government for “very limited action” to counter the autumn surge in cases or “face up to the threat of the Omicron variant, despite the staggering number of deaths predicted”. Friday’s mass resignation follows repeated calls by members of the advisory committee for tighter Covid restrictions and a more pro-active vaccination campaign. Several MPs from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party are openly opposed to Covid vaccinations and the government of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki relies on their support in parliament.