Lots of Romanians opt for immunisation against Covid-19
Estimates regarding immunisation
Daniela Budu, 20.01.2021, 14:00
Just a few days after the launch of the platform specially created by authorities for scheduling people who want to get vaccinated against Covid, Romanians can no longer do that in Bucharest and in several other big cities in the country. Almost all the 365,000 positions available on the platform in the second stage of the vaccination campaign have been filled. The authorities say that the volume of applications has exceeded the possibility of allocating vaccines at the moment, and the appointments are also conditioned by the number of doses in stock. This second stage of the vaccination campaign is intended for people over the age of 65, those with chronic diseases, as well as staff working in key public institutions.
Romania has contracted sufficient doses and also, starting with the second quarter of this year, the number of doses delivered to Romania will be significantly higher, which will allow us to accelerate the pace of vaccination, so as to ensure in due time, each person’s access to vaccination, said the president of the National Committee responsible for coordinating the activities relating to the vaccination against Covid-19, Valeriu Gheorghiţă. According to authorities, in the second stage of vaccination, there are about 300 immunisation centres in which some 30 thousand vaccines are administered daily, but their number will increase as more doses arrive in the country.
President Klaus Iohannis, who has visited vaccination centres in Bucharest, has voiced satisfaction that so many Romanians want to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and announced that more such centres will start operating within days. Also, he has given assurances that more and more people will actually benefit from the vaccination service because in the coming weeks and months more and more doses of vaccine will come to Romania.
However, Klaus Iohannis has pointed out that vaccination alone does not solve the situation created by the pandemic yet. Until we have a lot of vaccinated people, we need to strictly follow all the measures in place. We all want to return to a normal life as soon as possible, but this can only happen if, on the one hand, we observe the restrictions, and, on the other, if a significant share, which is 60-70%, of the population is vaccinated. If we do things right, maybe this summer we will return to a normal life, Klaus Iohannis has stated.
A recent study shows that 62% of Romanians want to be vaccinated against COVID-19. 36% of those who took part in the survey say they will be immunised as soon as they can, and 26% say they will, but not this year. The main reason why people want to get vaccinated is to avoid getting ill. Also, some of them do not want to get infected again. (M. Ignatescu)
