Vaccine rollout enters final stage

The third stage of the vaccine rollout has officially started in Romania

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Daniela Budu, 15.03.2021, 14:00

As of Monday the 3rd and final phase of the COVID-19 vaccination programme is operational. For the time being, vaccines are available in places where the infection rate is over 4.5 per thousand, such as Braşov (centre) and Timişoara (west). The rest of the population may put their names down on waiting lists on the electronic platform, also starting on Monday.

According to the authorities, 500,000 people have already created accounts on the electronic appointment platform, and are trying to get a vaccine.

Citizens eligible for the second phase, i.e. people over 65 years of age, chronic patients and workers in essential sectors, who have not yet received the vaccine, can still make appointments and will have priority on the waiting lists.

Appointments can be made online or via a call centre. The online platform lists both the existing vaccination centres, and centres scheduled to become operational next month.

Doctor Valeriu Gheorghiță, the coordinator of the national vaccination programme, announced that at this stage youth between 16 and 18 years of age may also receive the vaccine, but only in those centres where Pfizer doses are available, because this is the only product authorised for this age group.

Authorities continue to promise that the immunisation campaign will be stepped up. The rate is already over 40,000 shots per day nation-wide, and the number of doses administered so far is over 2 million.

This month, Romania should receive a total of 2.6 million doses of the 3 vaccines approved in the EU—Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca—while in April the country is scheduled to receive 3 million doses from Pfizer alone.

Vaccination is not mandatory, the authorities pointed out once again, but it is the only solution if we are to return to normal as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, with the alarming rise in the number of cases and in the number of patients in intensive care, infectious disease experts warn that the COVID-19 vaccination should not make us feel excessively relaxed, because immunised people can still catch and transmit the coronavirus. This is why they call for strict observance of the current protection measures. Doctors also say that the only means to put an end to the pandemic is to have as many people vaccinated as possible, so as to reduce the number of those vulnerable.

In the meantime, new containment measures are introduced. The state of alert has been extended, which keeps the already existing restrictions in place while also introducing new ones. The night curfew now starts at 10 pm instead of 11pm, and accommodation facilities in mountain resorts may only run up to 70% of their total capacity. (tr. A.M. Popescu)