VACCINE Romania has decided to temporarily suspend
\nthe use of doses from a batch of AstraZeneca vaccine until its complete assessment
\nby the European Medicines Agency. The National Committee for Coordinating
\nVaccination has decided to carry on the immunization campaign with the British
\nvaccine from other batches, where no problems have been reported. The decision
\ncomes after serious side effects and even deaths have been registered in some
\nEuropean countries, after using the aforementioned batch. Romania has received
\n81,600 doses of AstraZeneca ABV 2856 of which it has administered over 77
\nthousand doses. The rest have been temporarily quarantined as a precaution
\nmeasure until the European Medicine Agency completes its investigation. Over
\n100 thousand doses of Moderna vaccine have arrived in Romania. Also in an
\nattempt to step up the vaccination campaign and limit the effects of the
\npandemic, the third stage of the vaccination rollout programme kicked off on
\nThursday. It mainly targets people from the regions with an infection rate over
\n4.5 per thousand but also people from other regions who may want to get an
\nanti-Covid vaccine. Over five thousand fresh Covid-19 infections were reported
\nin Romania on Friday. 108 people have died following Covid-related complications
\nwhereas 1,166 patients are in intensive care. <\/p>\n
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PANDEMIC The Digital Green Pass, which is to be
\npresented in Brussels on Wednesday, will cover only the Covid-19 vaccines
\napproved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) an EU high representative
\nannounced on Friday. Only four vaccines have been approved so far,
\nPfizer\/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca\/Oxford and Johnson & Johnson. The
\nChinese vaccine Sinopharm, used in Hungary including by the country’s president
\nViktor Orban, as well as the Russian vaccine Sputnik V ordered by Hungary, the
\nCzech Republic and Slovakia have not been included in the list. In the meantime
\nas a precautionary measure, several countries have suspended the use of a batch
\nof AstraZeneca vaccine over blood clot fears. Other countries using the vaccine
\nhave not reported issues in the use of this vaccine. 17 EU members have
\nreceived doses from the respective batch and the European Commission has called
\non its members to apply the scientific indications provided by the EMA.
\nAccording to the Agency, there is no proof so far of a higher blood clot risk
\nin vaccinated individuals. AstraZeneca insists that its vaccines have been
\ntested extensively and tests proved they are well tolerated by the human body.
\nIn the USA, the country most affected by the pandemic, president Biden
\ndelivered his first primetime speech since he took power marking one year since
\nthe beginning of the pandemic and the restrictions imposed with a view to
\nkeeping the pandemic at bay. <\/p>\n
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PENSIONS Public and private sector
\nemployees may continue working until the age of 70 if they choose to, the
\nRomanian labour minister Raluca Turcan announced. She explained that unlike
\nprivate sector staff, in the public sector the employees reaching retirement
\nage who continue working cannot receive both public pensions and salaries.
\nAnother bill drafted by the Labour Ministry concerns an increase of the bonuses
\npaid to new parents who stay on parental leave for less than 6 months, from 130
\neuros to around 300 euros.<\/p>\n
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ENVIRONMENT The environment ministry on Friday launched a
\ncampaign called Green Friday, calling on Romanians to switch from
\nautomobiles to walking, cycling or using public transport every Friday. The
\npoint is primarily to reduce pollution in big cities. Minister BarnaTanczos explained
\nthat 60% of urban pollution is caused by automobiles.<\/p>\n
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