Romania sells Covid vaccine surplus

Romania has a surplus of anti-COVID vaccine, owing to the peoples low interest in getting immunised

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Daniela Budu, 29.06.2021, 13:50

At a time when the Romanians interest in vaccination against the novel coronavirus has dropped significantly, Romania must make a decision regarding the doses of vaccine which have not been used and are getting closer to expiration date.

In this context, PM Florin Cîţu announced that Romania will sell anti-Covid vaccine to several countries, with Denmark set to receive around one million doses, and that the country will also donate many of the doses. The PM argues that the countrys main goal, bringing the pandemic under control, has been achieved, even though the frequently boasted vaccination targets have not been reached.

Moreover, Romania suspended some of the vaccine deliveries due in June, and it is next to receive some 2.6 million doses of the over 7.1 million scheduled for this month. According to the state secretary in the Health Ministry Andrei Baciu, these include batches of Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines. Johnson&Johnson vaccine deliveries are not suspected at this time.

So far Romania has received a combined 15 million doses of COVID vaccine. “From the very beginning, the European Commission has signed these contracts with several producers, for a number of doses larger than the originally estimated eligible population. A possible vaccine surplus has been taken into account, which is precisely why each contract includes a provision allowing for the donation or re-sale of the surplus vaccine doses, Andrei Baciu said.

He added the situation is not uncommon in all EU countries. “These are the terms agreed by the European Commission with the producers, precisely in order to ensure the EU citizens quick and easy access to vaccine. And at this point, not only in Romania but at EU level, there is a surplus of vaccine doses, Andrei Baciu explained.

According to him, until the central donation or re-sale mechanisms are in place, Romania has initiated vaccine donations to the neighbouring Republic of Moldova.

In turn, the head of Romanias vaccination programme, Valeriu Gheorghiță, announced that Romania has around 35,000 AstraZeneca vaccine doses due to expire at the end of the month, and they will most likely be destroyed. He promised that Romania is not facing problems in terms of storing the vaccine.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to slow down across the country, and authorities argue this is due to vaccination. Since the start of the vaccine rollout, on 27 December 2020, around 4.7 million people have received the vaccine, most of them having received both doses. The authorities were targeting 5 million people immunised by 1 June. (tr. A.M. Popescu)