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VACCINE Romania has decided to temporarily suspend the use of doses from a batch of AstraZeneca vaccine until its complete assessment by the European Medicines Agency. The National Committee for Coordinating Vaccination has decided to carry on the immunization campaign with the British vaccine from other batches, where no problems have been reported. The decision comes after serious side effects and even deaths have been registered in some European countries, after using the aforementioned batch. Romania has received 81,600 doses of AstraZeneca ABV 2856 of which it has administered over 77 thousand doses. The rest have been temporarily quarantined as a precaution measure until the European Medicine Agency completes its investigation. Over 100 thousand doses of Moderna vaccine have arrived in Romania. Also in an attempt to step up the vaccination campaign and limit the effects of the pandemic, the third stage of the vaccination rollout programme kicked off on Thursday. It mainly targets people from the regions with an infection rate over 4.5 per thousand but also people from other regions who may want to get an anti-Covid vaccine. Over five thousand fresh Covid-19 infections were reported in Romania on Friday. 108 people have died following Covid-related complications whereas 1,166 patients are in intensive care.
PANDEMIC The Digital Green Pass, which is to be presented in Brussels on Wednesday, will cover only the Covid-19 vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) an EU high representative announced on Friday. Only four vaccines have been approved so far, Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca/Oxford and Johnson & Johnson. The Chinese vaccine Sinopharm, used in Hungary including by the country's president Viktor Orban, as well as the Russian vaccine Sputnik V ordered by Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have not been included in the list. In the meantime as a precautionary measure, several countries have suspended the use of a batch of AstraZeneca vaccine over blood clot fears. Other countries using the vaccine have not reported issues in the use of this vaccine. 17 EU members have received doses from the respective batch and the European Commission has called on its members to apply the scientific indications provided by the EMA. According to the Agency, there is no proof so far of a higher blood clot risk in vaccinated individuals. AstraZeneca insists that its vaccines have been tested extensively and tests proved they are well tolerated by the human body. In the USA, the country most affected by the pandemic, president Biden delivered his first primetime speech since he took power marking one year since the beginning of the pandemic and the restrictions imposed with a view to keeping the pandemic at bay.
PENSIONS Public and private sector employees may continue working until the age of 70 if they choose to, the Romanian labour minister Raluca Turcan announced. She explained that unlike private sector staff, in the public sector the employees reaching retirement age who continue working cannot receive both public pensions and salaries. Another bill drafted by the Labour Ministry concerns an increase of the bonuses paid to new parents who stay on parental leave for less than 6 months, from 130 euros to around 300 euros.
ENVIRONMENT The environment ministry on Friday launched a campaign called "Green Friday," calling on Romanians to switch from automobiles to walking, cycling or using public transport every Friday. The point is primarily to reduce pollution in big cities. Minister BarnaTanczos explained that 60% of urban pollution is caused by automobiles.
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