Speeding up the vaccination campaign
Romanian PM Florin Citu calls for speeding up the vaccination campaign, for new relaxation measures to be applied soon
Daniela Budu, 25.05.2021, 14:00
The number of new coronavirus infections and of Covid-19 related deaths has kept decreasing lately. New batches of vaccines are expected to arrive in the country, and the Romanian Government is analysing new relaxation measures, which could be applied as of June 1st. In the meantime, PM Florin Citu is looking for solutions to speed up the vaccination pace, as the campaign has been slowing down to half the peak of 100,000 vaccinations in 24 hours. The head of Government has called on prefects to come up with solutions, especially for the rural area, and insists that more vaccination centres should be opened in airports and at border crossing points. It’s important to continue with what went well, like the vaccination marathons in towns and cities. Also, we must bring vaccines closer to people, especially in the rural areas, the Prime Minister has stated.
In turn, the coordinator of the vaccination campaign, Valeriu Gheorghita, has also suggested vaccination marathons to be held in the rural areas, bringing together people from villages where there are no vaccination centres. He believes that family doctors should get more involved in this. To the smaller communities, people who enjoy credibility in the local community should support the vaccination campaign, in order to convince the citizens to get vaccinated. Everybody must get involved in order to beat this pandemic!, Valeriu Gheorghita said.
Dr. Alexandru Rafila, Romania’s representative at the WHO, has stated that new means of communication and persuasion are needed in order to convince people in the rural areas to get vaccinated. He has added that, most likely, last year’s scenario will repeat this year too, with a drop in the number of new cases during summer, and a new wave in autumn. However, Rafila said, the effect will be different, thanks to vaccination.
The Interior Minister Lucian Bode has also stated that coming back to a normal life depends on the success of the vaccination campaign. Right now, we cannot afford to make mistakes. We should stay alert and be cautious, because relaxation should be accompanied by observing the sanitary measures in place and a large number of vaccinated people, the minister stressed.
The opposition Social Democratic party, on the other hand, calls for a radical change in the vaccination strategy, given that, the Social Democrats say, the Government has missed all targets it had initially set. Official data show that the target of 5 million people vaccinated by June 1st cannot be reached, which means that it’s impossible to have 70% of the population immunised by the end of September, as Prime Minister Florin Citu said it would happen, the Social Democrats said. Some 4.2 million people have been vaccinated in Romania so far, most of them with both jabs. (MI)
