PM apologizes for painful decisions, urges Czechs to get vaccine

In his New Year’s address to the nation, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš described the pandemic as the biggest crisis in the country’s modern history; a crisis that had shown how vulnerable mankind is to such threats despite the advance of technology.

The prime minister apologized for painful decisions that his government had been forced to make, saying that human lives and health had to be given priority. He thanked workers on the front lines who fought the pandemic, citizens for respecting the restrictions imposed and each and every member of the society who had gone out of their way to help. He said the government had made a number of mistakes in responding to the crisis, but had also learned valuable lessons.

“This crisis has shown us what is really important in life,” Mr. Babiš said. “Many people finally had the opportunity to slow down and reflect on their way of life, to spend more time with their family. And I would say that, thanks to the crisis, many of us have come to fully appreciate the work of medics, social workers, rescuers, police officers, firefighters and also our army.”

Mr. Babiš said that while it had been a difficult and depressing year, it had given birth to many heroes, who selflessly jumped into action to help where help was needed and had made the society rise to new challenges that the pandemic presented. “For example, in digitization we have demonstrated such a leap in just a few months, that would otherwise have taken us years” the prime minister said.

Prime Minister Babiš concluded his address by calling on Czechs to get the Covid vaccine which would enable the country to return to normal. He said there would be vaccines available to everyone who showed an interest in getting it. He described the inoculation program underway as one of the most demanding and complex logistics operations undertaken in this country –and one of the biggest challenges of the New Year.