Abstract

Nikita Trojanskis will share the lessons learned from the Latvian COVID -19 response. Nikita was the project leader of the first contact-tracing app in the EU, a Senior Coordinator of the vaccination process in Latvia, and led the mathematical modelling effort that instructed the first lockdown in the EU during autumn 2021.

Having been in senior positions in disparate domains of Public Health, Nikita has a unique insight into the complex landscape of interactions between politicians, civil servants and researchers. As a small country with a limited network of key players, Latvia is a good case-study to analyse the (in)efficiencies of a decision-making process and interaction between stakeholders during crises.

Why did Latvia not have the first wave? Why was Latvia the first country to go into lockdown when Delta came? How did Latvia exceed the British vaccination rate despite having a very skeptical population? How can modelling results be communicated to induce behavioral change?