Anger in Poland as celebrities and politicians get Covid vaccine before being eligible

A controversy has arisen in Poland after it emerged that some politicians and well-known actors were among the first to receive coronavirus vaccines. So far, only medical personal are supposed to have been eligible to receive the jabs.

It remains unclear exactly how and why the public figures were given privileged access, and whether they were entitled to it. The actors were supposedly chosen as “ambassadors” to encourage others to take the vaccine when it becomes available to the wider public.

The health ministry and the medical university at which the jabs were administered have both launched investigations. Meanwhile, one local politician has been expelled from Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party after being among those to receive the vaccine early.

Poland began to roll out coronavirus vaccines last weekend. The first to receive them – labelled “group zero” – are healthcare workers. They are due to be followed this month by people aged over 60, teachers, members of the uniformed services and residents of nursing homes.

However, on Wednesday, Krystyna Janda – a 68-year-old who is one of Poland’s most famous actresses – revealed on Facebook that she had already been vaccinated.

Janda linked to a statement on the website of the Medical University of Warsaw (WUM), which said it had used “an additional pool of vaccines, separate from [those] intended for the zero [group]”, to vaccinate “people from the world of culture who will promote the idea of vaccination”.

WUM claimed that this had been suggested by the National Health Fund (NFZ), which finances Poland’s public healthcare system.

Janda’s post attracted an overwhelmingly negative reaction. Among the comments below it, the one that has received the most likes is by a woman saying that she is a doctor still desperately waiting to receive the vaccine, which was supposed to initially be for “healthcare workers, not famous people”.

Polsat, one of Poland’s leading television stations, subsequently learned that before Christmas Janda had invited a number of fellow veteran actors to be part of a group of “ambassadors” to promote the vaccine.

Some of them have subsequently expressed regret. “This was supposed to be a clever campaign, but it’s turned into a nightmare,” said Wiktor Zborowski, a 69-year-old actor. But he added that he did not feel he was doing anything wrong as he had been invited for the jab by the hospital.

Maria Seweryn, a 45-year-old actress and Janda’s daughter, said she had accompanied her father, Andrzej Seweryn, aged 74 and also an actor, to the hospital. A doctor had then told her that, because the vaccine vial had been opened, a spare dose was available if she wanted it. But “I now regret” accepting it, she told TVN24.

It also transpired that some figures from the world of politics had been given the vaccine. Leszek Miller – a 74-year-old former prime minister and now an MEP from Poland’s left-wing opposition party – tweeted an image showing that he had received the jab.

After also facing criticism, Miller said that he and others who received the vaccine early had nothing to be ashamed of. “We should be rewarded, not criticised, because we probably saved many vaccines from being poured down the drain,” he told TVN24.

Miller claims that “additional doses” of the vaccine from the state Material Reserve Agency (ARM) were designated for patients of the WUM hospital and family members of medical staff. As a patient, he took up the offer once he learned of it.

In a statement issued on Thursday, WUM said it had received 450 extra doses of the vaccine that had to be used by the end of the year. So it had given 300 to medical staff and 150 to their families, patients at the hospital, and 18 figures from the world of culture who would act as ambassadors.

However, the head of ARM, Michał Kuczmierowski, denies that there was any additional pool of vaccines for those outside the “zero group”. He called on the Medical University of Warsaw to “stop telling untruths”, reports Polsat.

The head of the prime minister’s chancellery, Michał Dworczyk, clarified that the government had agreed for vaccines to be used on people outside the “zero group”. But “only in exceptional circumstances” – if there was a risk that thawed vaccines would otherwise be wasted – and only for families of medical workers.

“Everything indicates that a very serious abuse has occurred at the Medical University of Warsaw hospital,” said Dworczyk, who is also the government official responsible for overseeing Covid vaccines.

The health minister, Adam Niedzielski, said that it appeared the medical university had gone beyond what it was permitted to do and that he was “disgusted” by its behaviour. He promised that an investigation would begin on Monday, reports Interia.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the rector of the medical university, Zbigniew Gaciong, admitted that he “was not happy” about the situation and that an internal investigation was underway, the results of which would be made public.

But he repeated the claim that “the celebrities were inoculated from an additional pool of vaccines”, reports RMF24. No medics were denied access to the treatment as a result, said Gaciong.

Politicians on both sides were quick to blame the other. Borys Budka, leader of Civic Platform (PO), the main opposition party, called on the prime minister to implement a “clear and unambiguous process” that does not allow “politicians and celebrities” to jump the queue.

A deputy interior minister, Paweł Szefernaker, however, noted in a tweet that Miller was elected as an MEP on a joint opposition list led by PO, and that some of the celebrities to receive early vaccines are supporters of PO.

Meanwhile, the ruling PiS party itself on Saturday expelled a local politician who received the vaccine before being entitled to.

Tomasz Staniek, head of a county in southeastern Poland, had posted an image on social media of himself receiving the jab with a message encouraging others to also do so.

Yesterday, the head of PiS’s executive committee, Krzysztof Sobolewski, announced that Staniek had been removed from the party. “The rules apply to everyone,” wrote Sobolewski.

The prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, also condemned everyone who takes the vaccine ahead of the timetable set out by the government. By doing so, they may deny treatment to “those most in need”. He called on Poles to show “social solidarity”.

The news that celebrities and politicians have received the vaccine early has drawn criticism from commentators across the political spectrum.

“Little has shocked me so much recently,” wrote Bartosz Węglarczyk, editor-in-chief of Onet, a liberal news website. “After months of repeating that we are in an epidemic together…the usual thing happened: it turned out that, if you have the right friends, you can get the vaccine outside of any timetable.”

The situation at the Medical University of Warsaw is “just the tip of the iceberg”, tweeted Marcin Makowski, a journalist from the right-wing Do Rzeczy weekly. Many other institutions have allowed well-connected people to receive vaccines early, according to his sources. It shows that Poland has only a “theoretical state”, wrote Makowski.

The same sentiment was expressed by Adam Traczyk, head of Global.Lab, a progressive think tank. “In Poland we have not managed to build a state that works according to procedures, but is simply the spoils of one elite and the other,” he tweeted.

The issue also drew the attention of Andrzej Milewski, one of Poland’s best known satirical cartoonists. “The vaccine was supposed to cause autism, but it caused nepotism,” says the character in his latest sketch.

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.