Romania adjusts vaccination campaign

Romania asks vaccine suppliers to deliver fewer doses than planned in June as its vaccination drive is losing steam.

Daniela Budu, 16.06.2021, 14:00

Due to the population’s low interest in vaccination,
Romania now has a surplus of Covid vaccines and has therefore asked for fresh
deliveries to be suspended. According to a timetable agreed with the European Commission,
Bucharest was supposed to receive this month over 7 million doses, but the authorities
asked to be delivered only 2.6 million. It’s important to maintain a balance
between the quantity of vaccines delivered to Romania and the quantity of
vaccines administered, said the head of the vaccination campaign Valeriu
Gheorghiță.

According to official data, Romania has a 60% utilisation
rate of the vaccines delivered, out of almost 15 million doses. Valeriu
Gheorghiță said an assessment of the efficiency of vaccination centres was
finalised last week, with the result that 11 vaccination centres will be closed
temporarily, 127 will see their working hours cut and 70 vaccination flows will
be closed down. He said the authorities do not want to close vaccination
centres permanently because it is hard to predict how the epidemiological
situation will evolve in the next few months and these centres must be ready to
reopen if needed. Meanwhile, people can still get their vaccines from their
GPs, which has been possible since 4th May in Bucharest and all over
the country, with some one third of GPs signing up for the programme.

The authorities are next week launching an action plan
to develop a concept they called Cities are vaccinating villages. Under this
plan, vaccination staff will be dispatched to all of Romania’s 3,000 communes
by the end of July, because the prospect of a new wave of infections,
especially in autumn, in the colder season, is as clear as can be. Gheorghiță
also says that information about vaccination must reach the population as soon
as possible with the help of the local authorities, NGOs and international
associations.

He also warned that it is very likely that the Delta
variant first identified in India will become dominant. Under the circumstances,
he said the authorities must ensure access to vaccination for people who want
to receive the vaccine because Romania may well face a fourth round of
infections if the vaccination rate is not high enough to slow down the spread of
the virus. Valeriu Gheorghiță also gave assurances that the vaccines now in use
are efficient against the Delta variant provided people are fully vaccinated. Over
4.2 million are fully vaccinated so far in Romania, with 4.6 having received one
or both doses. (CM)