March 12, 2021 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 12.03.2021, 20:07
VACCINE Romania has decided to temporarily suspend
the use of doses from a batch of AstraZeneca vaccine until its complete assessment
by the European Medicines Agency. The National Committee for Coordinating
Vaccination has decided to carry on the immunization campaign with the British
vaccine from other batches, where no problems have been reported. The decision
comes after serious side effects and even deaths have been registered in some
European countries, after using the aforementioned batch. Romania has received
81,600 doses of AstraZeneca ABV 2856 of which it has administered over 77
thousand doses. The rest have been temporarily quarantined as a precaution
measure until the European Medicine Agency completes its investigation. Over
100 thousand doses of Moderna vaccine have arrived in Romania. Also in an
attempt to step up the vaccination campaign and limit the effects of the
pandemic, the third stage of the vaccination rollout programme kicked off on
Thursday. It mainly targets people from the regions with an infection rate over
4.5 per thousand but also people from other regions who may want to get an
anti-Covid vaccine. Over five thousand fresh Covid-19 infections were reported
in Romania on Friday. 108 people have died following Covid-related complications
whereas 1,166 patients are in intensive care.
PANDEMIC The Digital Green Pass, which is to be
presented in Brussels on Wednesday, will cover only the Covid-19 vaccines
approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) an EU high representative
announced on Friday. Only four vaccines have been approved so far,
Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca/Oxford and Johnson & Johnson. The
Chinese vaccine Sinopharm, used in Hungary including by the country’s president
Viktor Orban, as well as the Russian vaccine Sputnik V ordered by Hungary, the
Czech Republic and Slovakia have not been included in the list. In the meantime
as a precautionary measure, several countries have suspended the use of a batch
of AstraZeneca vaccine over blood clot fears. Other countries using the vaccine
have not reported issues in the use of this vaccine. 17 EU members have
received doses from the respective batch and the European Commission has called
on its members to apply the scientific indications provided by the EMA.
According to the Agency, there is no proof so far of a higher blood clot risk
in vaccinated individuals. AstraZeneca insists that its vaccines have been
tested extensively and tests proved they are well tolerated by the human body.
In the USA, the country most affected by the pandemic, president Biden
delivered his first primetime speech since he took power marking one year since
the beginning of the pandemic and the restrictions imposed with a view to
keeping the pandemic at bay.
PENSIONS Public and private sector
employees may continue working until the age of 70 if they choose to, the
Romanian labour minister Raluca Turcan announced. She explained that unlike
private sector staff, in the public sector the employees reaching retirement
age who continue working cannot receive both public pensions and salaries.
Another bill drafted by the Labour Ministry concerns an increase of the bonuses
paid to new parents who stay on parental leave for less than 6 months, from 130
euros to around 300 euros.
ENVIRONMENT The environment ministry on Friday launched a
campaign called Green Friday, calling on Romanians to switch from
automobiles to walking, cycling or using public transport every Friday. The
point is primarily to reduce pollution in big cities. Minister BarnaTanczos explained
that 60% of urban pollution is caused by automobiles.
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