The latest on vaccination

In a few days, people without an appointment on the online vaccination platform will also be able to get the Covid-19 jab

Daniela Budu, 14.04.2021, 13:50

Citizens willingness to get vaccinated remains at a steady 50% in Romania, according to sociological surveys, the head of the national SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination Coordination Committee Valeriu Gheorghiţă announced on Tuesday. According to him, at present over 1.2 million people have appointments both for the first dose and for the booster, most of them for the Pfizer vaccine. So far in Romania nearly 2.4 million people have received the vaccine, and over half of them have got both doses.

Valeriu Gheorghiţă also mentioned that at present over 1,000 vaccination centres are operational, with a total maximum capacity of 115,000 doses per day. Most of them, i.e. over two-thirds, are Pfizer centres, and the remaining give AstraZeneca and Moderna shots.

The Romanian official also announced that as of the next few days people who wish to get the vaccine without a previous appointment will be able to come directly to the AstraZeneca centres with available spots.

With the number of patients in intensive care and the number of COVID-19-related deaths on the rise across the country, authorities once again call on people to get the vaccine and to observe protection measures.

According to the National Public Health Institute (INSP), over 18,000 people, accounting for less than 1% of the total number of people that have received the vaccine, have had a positive SARS-CoV-2 test between December 2020 and April 2021, after receiving the first dose. Some two-thirds of them had got the Pfizer jab, one-quarter the AstraZeneca, and the others the Moderna vaccine.

During the same period, nearly 3,000 people, accounting for 0.21% of the total number of people having also received the booster dose, tested positive after immunization. Most of them had been given the Pfizer serum, and the others the Moderna one. The booster dose for the British-Swedish vaccine AstraZeneca only started being given this week.

Meanwhile, the first 60,000 doses of Johnson&Johnson vaccine reached Romania on Wednesday, but they will not be given out until the European Medicines Agency issues guidelines on its safety.

Federal healthcare authorities in the US Tuesday recommended suspending the vaccine after a number of people that had received it reported blood clots. According to Romanian authorities, this month another 100,000 Johnson&Johnson doses are scheduled to arrive in the country, followed by half a million doses in May and another 1.6 million in June. (tr. A.M. Popescu)