Coronavirus vaccine for children
The first 114,000 doses of COVID vaccine for children aged 5 to 11 will be available in Romania as of January 26
Corina Cristea, 25.01.2022, 13:50
In spite of a very good
start 13 months ago, the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out in Romania gradually went on
a strong downward trend, influenced by information without a scientific foundation
circulating in the public space, and unfortunately supported at times by
healthcare staff as well.
The authorities’ efforts
to encourage immunisation failed to get Romania above the last but one place in
the EU in terms of the vaccination rate. After the initial enthusiasm faded, there
were rare increases in the number of people going to vaccination centres,
either scared of the large number of infections or of the prospect of being
requested a vaccination certificate at the workplace.
The ambitious targets
announced by the authorities got increasingly hard to reach, and according to
current figures few over 8 million Romanians have at least one vaccine dose.
In the capital Bucharest nearly
67% of the people have got at least one dose of vaccine, while 7 other counties have vaccination rates between 50% and 60%, 24 counties
between 40% and 50%, and 10 counties have rates between 30% and 40%, the
coordinator of the vaccination campaign in Romania Valeriu Gheorghiță announced
last week. That was the week when Romania saw over 19,000 infection cases in 24
hours, which is more than on any other day since the start of the pandemic.
The situation is
not yet stable, with estimates pointing to a possible 25-28,000 cases per day
this week. The largest numbers of confirmed cases are in Bucharest and Ilfov County, where the demand for
testing is also high. In order meet this demand as soon as possible, the Health
Ministry, which estimates the current wave will peak in around 3 weeks’ time,
decided to open 28 testing centres in as many hospitals.
A feature of this
pandemic wave is the large number of infected children-some 8-9% of the
patients in hospitals are kids. A reason for that may be the change in the
rules governing online teaching, which is now only permitted if 75% of the places
for COVID patients in hospitals are filled.
On the other hand, on January
26 Romania is set to begin vaccination for children aged 5 to 11. The dedicated
online platform allowed for children vaccination appointments to be made as of January
13, and several thousand requests have already been registered. (A.M.P.)
