ZAGREB, 12 February, 2021 - The head of Zagreb's Infectious Diseases Hospital, Alemka Markotić, confirmed on Friday that her 84-year-old mother, a chronic patient, had been vaccinated in that hospital, and when asked whether that was a case of abuse of position, she said at least one reporter had already been vaccinated.
"How many times have you broken (the rules) by calling me and my colleagues, asking favours for your parents, loved ones... Both your parents and my mother and all other people who could and should have come could come to the hospital. At least one of you sitting here skipped the line to be vaccinated," Markotić said.
Markotić, who is a member of the national COVID-19 crisis management team, did not say the name of the reporter who had jumped the queue to be vaccinated, but she said that he was present at the press conference, after which reporters denied they were the ones who had been vaccinated.
Answering reporters' questions, Markotić confirmed that her 84-year-old mother, who is suffering from several chronic diseases, at least two of which are connected with serious COVID complications, had been vaccinated at the hospital where she works.
"She has recently had an extensive and difficult operation, so I do not see why she could not be vaccinated if she is my mother," she added.
Markotić: Nowhere does it say no elderly persons outside of care homes can be vaccinated
In a reply to a reporter's statement on "getting vaccinated ahead of the line" and asked based on what criteria her mother got vaccinated, given the fact that the first phase of Croatia's vaccination plan has not been completed, Markotić underscored that there were no criteria saying where her mother could be vaccinated although she was not in a care home.
"You stated that persons were vaccinated ahead of the line and using favoritism," she told reporters.
"Nowhere does it say that no elderly person can be vaccinated if they are not in a care home; nowhere does it say that a health worker must be vaccinated in their own health institution," Markotić stressed.
The head of the national COVID-19 team, Minister of the Interior Davor Božinović, said that the director of the Infectious Diseases Hospital lived with her mother, who might not be in the first category according to the priority plan, but given Dr Markotić's profession, she might be even more at risk than others.
Asked by reporters about her attendance at a mass for the Blessed Cardinal Alojzije Stepinac on 10 February, when more than 25 people gathered outside the Zagreb Cathedral, Markotić said that she had attended the mass as a private person, not an organiser or someone who could determine the number of people attending.
She denied media claims that she had held a speech at the mass.
Asked by reporters whether she would resign due to her attendance at the mass and her mother's vaccination, Markotić did not respond, saying she was a target of a lynching campaign.
She said there were people above her, as the director of the Infectious Diseases Hospital, to whom she would answer.
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