We
\nare finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the surge in COVID-19 infections,
\nboth among the general public and among healthcare staff. The past few days
\nhave showed us a healthcare system stretched to its limits, especially in the
\nunits treating COVID-19 patients, reads an appeal signed by the Bucharest
\nPhysicians College, urging people to get the vaccine and comply with protection
\nmeasures.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The
\ncall comes at a time when Romania is struggling in the grips of the 4th
\nwave of the pandemic, with a highly contagious Delta variant and with only
\naround 30% of its population vaccinated-the second-lowest level in the EU. Romania
\nis also substantially below the worldwide vaccination rate of 45%, although it
\nhas enough doses of Pfizer, Moderna, Astra Zeneca and Johnson&Johnson
\nvaccines, received through EU support mechanisms. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In
\nfact, some of these vaccine doses have been resold or donated to other
\ncountries or even disposed of, because they had reached their expiration date. Meanwhile,
\nhundreds of people die every day, hospitals are overcrowded, and intensive care
\nunits are fully occupied. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
We
\nwitness tragedies every day: patients who die, families suffering, physicians too
\nexhausted to stay standing, patients and healthcare staff infected with SARS-CoV-2
\nin need of medical care. And their number is very large. Faced with this
\ndramatic picture, we believe the low vaccination rate among people is, perhaps,
\na failure in terms of the confidence that the public should have in the medical
\npersonnel, the appeal of the physicians in Bucharest also reads. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
They
\nalso reiterate that science and evidence-based medicine state, as reference
\ninternational healthcare institutions confirm, that vaccination is one of the
\nmajor instruments for the efficient management of the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The
\ndocument also states that, while indeed vaccinated people may catch the disease
\nor have severe forms of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the proportion of such cases is a
\nlot smaller than among unvaccinated patients. In fact, the example of countries
\nwith high vaccination rates is taletelling in this respect.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Every
\nday we talk to fellow doctors who tell us they have no solutions. Young patients
\ndie, children get to intensive care units, people with and without
\nco-morbidities lose this battle. We are at a crossroads, and I believe only
\nthough a joint effort will we be able to curb this trend. Science tells us
\ntoday that vaccination and compliance with protection measures enable us to
\nfight this pandemic more efficiently, reads the document signed by physician
\nC\u0103t\u0103lina Poian\u0103, Ph.D., president of the Bucharest Physicians College. (tr.
\nA.M. Popescu)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Romanian physicians once again call on people to get vaccinated, as the country struggles with the pandemic<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":90112,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[35374,35806,29951,35416,35973,35822],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-90111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-covid-19","tag-icu","tag-infection","tag-pandemic","tag-variant","tag-wave"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n