The Prime Minister had previously attended the Commission’s 2nd regular session, answering questions from the Commission Chair and deputies on measures taken by the Government to contain and limit the spread of coronavirus infections. More information about the Prime Minister’s first appearance at the Commission’s session is available at the Prime Minister's website.

Today’s session began with questions about rapid testing decisions. Prime Minister Janša answered questions about rapid tests, saying that the latter were known to be less reliable than PCR tests, that a great many tests had already been conducted and that their accuracy was known. Of course they are not 100‑percent reliable, but everyone uses them. As it is widely known that rapid tests are not 100‑percent reliable, the Prime Minister went on to say that "after a positive rapid test, your personal physician will have you take a PCR test to confirm or exclude infection. Rapid antigen tests are only the first phase of testing. The number of people who have undergone PCR or rapid testing is published separately by test type on the Government’s website. At the beginning of the epidemic, we didn’t even have tests. And when rapid tests appeared, it was unclear how reliable they were, and it took time before they became common practice and before the experts had an empirical basis to adopt or offer appropriate suggestions. But that wasn’t only the case in Slovenia but everywhere in the world." He added that he did not make decisions about the adequacy of rapid testing, nor did he establish the relevant criteria. The National Laboratory of Health, Environment and Food is the institution authorised to assess the adequacy of tests. And the decision that the National Laboratory would verify the appropriateness and adequacy of the tests was reached by those responsible for professional assessment in the matter. "And that certainly wasn’t the Government or any minister," said the Prime Minister. He went on to say that the intention behind the questions about rapid tests was puzzling. "The testing was being conducted, is being conducted, the results are known, the reliability is known, nothing is left to speculation. All procedures are comparable to those carried out in other countries," said the Prime Minister. "Saying that the tests have a 40-percent accuracy is conjecture. Verification was carried out on a particular sample, but unfortunately we will never know the number of false negatives," said the Prime Minister, adding that the country had spend tens of millions of euros on rapid tests. "Testing is still costing us a great deal every day."

As to the general question about when the Government failed to listen to the experts, the Prime Minister said that the deputy posing the question should be more specific. He replied: "Medical experts, for instance, proposed that we close the schools, while some of the education experts were against it, so we weighed which decision to take, and our decision was initially different from what the medical experts had suggested. When we talk about experts, there aren’t only medical but also other experts, and the Government had to weigh and consider the matter based on common sense and how things were done in other European countries. It was impossible to take into consideration all proposals made by the medical experts, because economics, education and social welfare experts also had to be taken into account."

The Prime Minister rejected the notion that Dr Ivan Eržen was replaced as National Institute of Public Health’s Director "since he had only been appointed Acting Director on an interim basis, pending the procedures for the appointment of a new Director". On the issue of professionalism concerning Jelko Kacin having a role in vaccination, the Prime Minister commented that the Head of the National Advisory Committee on Immunization was Dr Bojana Beovič and that the State Secretary Jelko Kacin did not take decisions on vaccines, but dealt with logistics, i.e. procurement, distribution and technical conditions.

When asked why the use of fabric face masks was prohibited at present when they were in use for a year and a half, the Prime Minister said it was the experts who proposed imposing surgical and FFP2 face masks. "If the number of cases was ten times smaller, fabric masks would probably not be discouraged," said the Prime Minister, adding that at the start of the epidemic, Slovenia had no masks at its disposal, so at the time any type of protection was better than no protection. "The fabric face masks that have been sold and used over the past year are still better than paper or sneezing into a sleeve. However, in the beginning, we had nothing, no masks, while at present there are enough surgical and FFP2 face masks available and it is clear that the degree of protection those masks provide is better," highlighted the Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister also voiced the opinion that funds for the various COVID bonus payments to staff were likely to have been misused, but that it was the responsibility of the heads of the institutions to decide who was eligible for COVID bonuses and how much they should have amounted to. At the same time, the Prime Minister stated that ministries and inspectors responded to detected cases of misuse. "When the Court of Audit inspects the functioning of certain public institutions, it will also check for misuse of these funds. If there have been misuses, this audit might also uncover some more," said the Prime Minister while expressing confidence that cases of misuse were few, as people acted responsibly.

At today’s session, Prime Minister Janša also said that the Government had found a system solution for the most vulnerable and burdened part of the COVID‑19 crisis. He said: "Following difficult negotiations, a new remuneration scheme was agreed for employees in nursing care and the homes for the elderly, which will make it possible for those who have been underpaid to permanently receive higher salaries, solving the issue systemically and not through bonuses."

When asked why the Government had failed to order a sufficient number of vaccines last year, the Prime Minister explained that the working group at the Ministry of Health, established by Minister Gantar, assessed at some point in the summer of 2020, when no vaccines were available, that Slovenia should purchase the AstraZeneca vaccine on a priority basis, both because this vaccine was substantially less costly and because at the time it seemed it would be the first vaccine to be approved by the European Medicines Agency. "Minister Gantar did nothing wrong in this regard. When I was the acting Minister of Health, I was informed at the European Council that the European Medicines Agency or EMA would approve the BionTech/Pfizer vaccine as soon as possible, probably by the end of the year. To this end I ordered the ministry that very same day to change the vaccination strategy and for Slovenia to order all available vaccines regardless of their price. However, Slovenia did not participate in all vaccine tenders, as the delivery date in some tenders was set for 2022 or for the second half of 2021. Therefore, even if we participated in those tenders, we would not have received the vaccines in January, February of May of this year, but would only receive them now, when we already have enough of these types of vaccines," said the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister also assessed that the relatively low vaccination coverage in Slovenia is not the result of a vaccination shortage but rather an issue that requires a lengthier discussion. "Slovenia is not the only country facing this issue. Switzerland also has a similar percentage of fully vaccinated population. The reasons behind it are not only what the political dialogue alleges but also the matters that have accumulated over years and decades. Countries with a similar history as Slovenia are facing a similar problem. At the moment it is more important to think about what can be done to raise vaccination coverage. I am glad that people are queuing up for the booster dose, that interest in the first dose of the vaccine is growing and that the figures are slowly improving. Vaccination is the only thing that can save us from this COVID‑19 nightmare," said the Prime Minister.

Lastly, the Prime Minister said that the Government has been following expert advice and tries to provide sufficient advance warning for measures that require longer and more complex preparations. "There is enough protective equipment on the market. Under Health and Safety at Work Act, the heads of institutions are required to provide their employees with appropriate protective equipment. So the Government is not responsible if, for example, schools lack protective equipment, as responsibility lies with the head of the institution," concluded the Prime Minister.