In 1976 Andriukaitis started his career in politics as a member of the underground Social Democrat movement, but later continued his studies by pursuing a degree in history at Vilnius University, graduating in 1984.

[6] He was a health minister of the Republic of Lithuania since December 2012 until the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker appointed him to serve as an EU Commissioner in November 2014.

Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis was born in Kyusyur, Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, USSR.

[7] His father, Alfonsas Andriukaitis and mother Liuda Andriukaitienė, pregnant at the time, together with two small children were deported from Lithuania to Siberia by Soviet Communists in June 1941.

[7] He did not join the Communist party during his university years and was instead a member of the underground Social Democratic movement for independent Lithuania.

Following the internship, he was denied the right to choose the hospital for residency by security services due to his anti-communist political involvement.

Andriukaitis practiced medicine until 1993, when the new Constitution of Lithuania forbade Members of Parliament to take part in other non-parliamentary activities.

[10] The "university" rejected dictatorship, nazism, fascism, autocratic regimes or nationalism and united students by promoting values of democracy, pluralism, multi-party politics, freedom of ideas, philosophy and religion and diversity.

During this period he was also a member of the working group for the development of the strategy for LSSR self-sufficiency (in regards to social security, health care reform and public administration).

Lithuanian Prosecutor General's Office terminated the pre-trial investigation once the accusation proved to be an unfounded smear.

On 6 September 2005 Andriukaitis won the legal proceedings against the former Prosecutor General of the Republic of Lithuania when the latter publicly apologized for his words about the allegations.

In 2001, as a deputy chairman of the Lithuanian Parliament, he was responsible for the European Integration Program, including the planning and management of human and financial resources.

[11] In March 2016, he was also appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the High-Level Commission on Health Employment and Economic Growth, which was co-chaired by presidents François Hollande of France and Jacob Zuma of South Africa.

[12] Shortly after the United Kingdom's 2016 vote to withdraw from the European Union, Nigel Farage gave a speech including a statement that members of the EU parliament had never "done a proper job in their lives".