Vaccination of the homeless, a priority
The anti-Covid vaccination campaign continues in Romania. Over 1 million people have been immunized so far.
Corina Cristea, 22.02.2021, 14:00
Almost a year after the first case of coronavirus reported in Romania, the death toll gets close to 20 thousand. The vaccination campaign which started in the EU on December 27, 2020, has been highly effective in Romania, with the country ranking third in the European Union in terms of immunization rate. “The pace at which the vaccination campaign has been unfolding in Romania, confirms that we are reaching our goal to immunize the population as quickly as possible,“ head of the national committee for the coordination of the vaccination campaign, Valeriu Gheorghita, said. On Saturday, Gheorghita announced that in Romania, the number of people immunized exceeded the number of people infected.
The vaccination strategy adopted by Bucharest has given priority to the medical staff and results are encouraging, given that the number of infections among this professional category has decreased by 85%. People with underlying health conditions, those aged over 65, people from nursing homes and social assistance centres and from essential institutions came next. Teachers are part of the latter category and getting them immunized is very important in the context of schools having reopened two weeks ago. According to the Education Ministry, as of the 8th of February, when the second school semester started, over 800 students and around 640 teachers have been infected with the novel coronavirus.
Authorities plead for the quick immunization of the staff in education, so each county inspectorate and university has been asked to submit to the Public Health Departments the lists with those willing to get the shot in dedicated centres, Valeriu Gheorghita has said: ”There is no need for vaccine appointment on the platform, which can cause delays. Each education unit will centralise the data and send the list to school inspectorates. The dedicated vaccination unit for each school will be decided together with the Public Health Department. There will be around 2 such units in each county. ”
Over 40 thousand employees with the education system have already been vaccinated, half of them with the second dose. The homeless have been also given priority and have been vaccinated with the help of mobile teams, supported by the local authorities and the social assistance departments. In the case of the homeless people, the biggest challenge is, according to Valeriu Gheorghita, finding them again for the second dose of the vaccine. Over 300 people from this category have received both vaccine doses. (EE)
