On Tuesday Romania went over 6 million citizens fully
\nvaccinated against Covid 19, with the immunisation pace rising spectacularly of
\nlate.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The reasons
\nseem to be, on the one hand, the new restrictions affecting the unvaccinated, and
\non the other hand fear of the complications entailed by the disease, in a
\ncountry with a healthcare system overwhelmed by the pandemic. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Romania
\nremains one but last in the EU in terms of the vaccination rate, and below the
\nworld average. The total number of doses administered since the 27 December
\n2020 is now over 12 million, most of them Pfizer, followed by
\nJohnson&Johnson, AstraZeneca and Moderna. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The head
\nof the vaccination programme, Valeriu Gheorghi\u0163\u0103, reiterated that should the
\ncurrent vaccination pace remain steady, more than 70% of the Romanians over 12
\nyears of age could be immunised by the end of the year. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
At the
\nmoment, the national vaccine coverage rate is 33% of the total population,
\nincluding people with just one vaccine dose. The highest rate is reported in
\nthe capital Bucharest – nearly 60%, Cluj (north-west) is over 52%, whereas
\nSuceava County (north-east) only has a vaccination rate of 24%. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Valeriu
\nGheorghi\u0163\u0103 also announced that over 40% of those vaccinated in the first stage
\nhave also received a booster dose after at least 6 months. More than 61% of
\nthem are vulnerable people, patients with chronic conditions and aged over 65. Also,
\nsome 19% of them are employed in the healthcare and social assistance fields. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Gheorghi\u0163\u0103
\nalso said that over the past few weeks new vaccination centres have been
\nopened, and some of those temporarily suspended have been reactivated. Wherever
\nthe situation required it, their working hours have been extended. Consequently,
\nacross the country 706 vaccination centres are now operating, with over 1,000
\nlanes. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Valeriu
\nGheorghi\u0163\u0103 said solutions are being searched to step up vaccination in rural
\ncommunities. The authorities consider activating family physician practices, where
\navailable, or deploying mobile teams to roll out the vaccine in locations
\nprovided by the local community. Another option is to transport people to the
\nnearest vaccination centre.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Meanwhile,
\nevery weekend until the end of the year Bucharest will hold so-called vaccination
\nmarathons in every sector. The manager of the University Emergency Hospital in
\nthe capital city, C\u0103t\u0103lin C\u00eerstoiu, recently warned that Romania is losing a
\ncommunity as large as a village to COVID-19 every day, as the number of
\nCOVID-related deaths is 400-500 a day. And vaccination is the solution, C\u00eerstoiu
\nemphasised. (tr. A.M. Popescu)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The vaccination pace has improved spectacularly in Romania, but the country is still behind EU rates<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":89206,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[35374,34686,36074,32402],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-90220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-covid-19","tag-immunisation","tag-rollout","tag-vaccine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n