Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis installed on Wednesday his fourth health minister since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has hit the country hard, amid growing pressure to seek vaccines from Russia and possibly also China, according to Reuters.

Petr Arenberger, a Prague hospital director, replaces Jan Blatny, who had taken the job in October just as Covid-19 infections were spiking.

Three peaks of the pandemic since have claimed more than 27,000 lives and put the country of 10.7 million at the top of global rankings in deaths per capita, according to the Our World in Data website.

Blatny’s dismissal comes after Babis reprimanded him in the past month for a lack of support for new Covid-19 medicines and handling of plans to use testing to re-open schools.