Measures to encourage vaccination

Meal vouchers and lottery tickets are among the measures taken by the Romanian government to encourage vaccination.

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Ştefan Stoica, 31.08.2021, 14:00

A little over 5 million Romanians, that is just one quarter of the population, have been fully vaccinated against Sars-Cov-2 since the start of the national vaccination campaign in December 2020. This is a small number, the authorities have admitted, and their campaigns aimed at promoting the benefits of vaccination are far from reaching their goals. Medical staff and experts are equally worried by the small number of vaccinated people, recalling now, at the beginning of 4th wave of the pandemic, the problems that the 3rd wave created in the medical system. The daily number of COVID infections is on the rise, and the authorities hope that, through the new measures, consisting in material compensations, the Romanians appetite for vaccination will increase.

On Monday, the government adopted an ordinance that provides for food allowances worth one hundred lei (a little over 20 Euros) for those people who get fully vaccinated from now on. In addition, a lottery with cash prizes will be organized for all those who have been vaccinated so far.

The Health Minister, Ioana Mihăilă, has more: “When the emergency ordinance is published in the Official Gazette, the persons who get fully vaccinated will be able to benefit from meal vouchers. They can pick up these meal vouchers from the center where they got vaccinated, when these vouchers become available. As an additional measure to reward all the people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19, a vaccination lottery will be organized consisting in cash prizes for the people who have been fully vaccinated.”

The PM Florin Cîţu has once again pleaded in favor of vaccination. He believes that the people working in the public system should choose between immunization, which is free of charge, and mandatory periodic testing at their own expense.

Florin Cîţu: “Given the number of people contaminated with Sars-CoV-2 lately, I believe it is very important to take vaccination seriously, since vaccination is the only solution. I have expressed my opinion related to the staff working for the state institutions and agencies, the defense ministry, the interior ministry, the education and healthcare ministries, namely that they should be either vaccinated or tested weekly. The respective ministries are expected, of course, to come up with proposals, we need to work out solutions”.

On the other hand, the prime ministers control body will check the situation related to the several hundred false vaccination certificates discovered following a journalistic investigation. More than 370 complaints were referred to the Police regarding the authenticity of some suspicious vaccination certificates. (LS)