The COVID-19 pandemic has stayed on a
\ndownward trend in Romania for several weeks. Both the number of new cases, and
\nthe number of patients in hospitals and of fatalities have been decreasing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In this context, interest in vaccination is also decreasing: numbers are
\nnow significantly below the daily average of 16,000 people who got their first
\ndose of the vaccine last week. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Nearly a year since the start of the vaccine roll-out, some 7.5 million
\nRomanians are fully vaccinated, which is much less than half the eligible
\npopulation of over 12 years of age. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The coordinator of the national vaccination programme, Valeriu
\nGheorghi\u0163\u0103, hopes however that a vaccination rate of at least 50% will be
\nreached by the end of the year. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Romanian authorities once again urge people to get vaccinated
\nand to observe protection measures. The PM Nicolae Ciuc\u0103 and the new health
\nminister, Alexandru Rafila, have called for support for vaccination from
\nreligious denominations. They also discussed with local religious leaders about
\nintroducing the digital certificate as a prerequisite for access to churches
\nand other places of worship. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In turn, the representatives of various religious denominations
\nrequested that citizens be allowed to take part in religious services without a
\ndigital certificate. PM Nicolae Ciuc\u0103 promised that a decision will be made by
\nthe end of the month.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Nicolae Ciuc\u0103: We had talks and representatives of
\nreligious denominations requested that citizens be free to attend religious services
\nwithout a compulsory digital certificate. We asked religious officials to help us
\nsave as many lives as possible.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In turn, Alexandru Rafila believes people should attend religious
\nservices without being required to have a COVID certificate, because religious freedom
\nis essential.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Alexandru Rafila: I believe this is ultimately a
\npolitical decision, and that it should be made within a consultative and
\ninclusive mechanism, rather than as a discretionary policy. It should be a
\ndecision which is known, understood and observed by everybody, and religious
\nfreedom is one of the essential elements. We cannot speak about this in the same
\nterms as access to essential shops, let’s say. We believe access to religious
\nservices should take this into account. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
As for making vaccination compulsory, as discussed by some European
\nCommission representatives, Alexandru Rafila believes each member state is
\nentitled to have its own public health policies. (tr. A.M. Popescu)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romanian authorities call on religious denominations to help step up the vaccine rollout<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":90130,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[36213,35401,35374,40401,29951,35215,40400,32402],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-89843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-certificate","tag-compulsory","tag-covid-19","tag-denominations","tag-infection","tag-leaders","tag-religious","tag-vaccine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n