The Government has launched a campaign promoting the vaccination against Covid-19.

“We knew from the start of the vaccination process that this moment would come. A moment when we need to do more to convince the population: that they need to get vaccinated, that it is the only solution to get rid of the pandemic,” prime minister Florin Cîţu said in a press statement on May 27.

The campaign includes 11 videos: three of them are general ones, showing what people miss during the pandemic, while the rest are targeted at various segments of the public, such as mothers, grandparents, tourists, or festival-goers, the PM explained. The videos are scheduled to air for six months. 

The campaign was made with the support of UNICEF and entailed no costs from the Government, he said.

The campaign, with the theme “Together we defeat the pandemic,” revolves around the question “What does the vaccine contain?”, Cîţu explained.

“It’s not a question about chemical elements and ingredients but about what the vaccine means to us and how it helps us go back to normal. We are trying to find out what you miss. Going back to the pre-pandemic life is an objective for all Romanians, and this is why we need to get vaccinated; it’s as simple as that. I trust we can, and we will manage together,” he said.

One video, to be shared on the PM’s Facebook page, shows Cîţu explaining that the vaccine contains “normality.” “To be able to drink my coffee with friends, here, indoors. To not depend on the mask, to be able to go to concerts, to the beach, without any worries, but mostly to be able to see my family safely.”

The PM said he tasked Valeriu Gheorghiță, the coordinator of the national vaccination campaign, and state secretary Andrei Baciu with reaching “opinion leaders, actors, performers to support this campaign, to tell us what the vaccine means to them […] This vaccination campaign is ours, not just mine or the Government’s,” Cîţu said.

Other videos in the campaign are available below. 

The campaign comes as the daily number of people getting the vaccine dropped in recent days below the targeted 100,000 average. Valeriu Gheorghiță also explained the vaccination campaign had reached the segment of the population that is hesitant about vaccination.

“We have these voices against vaccination everywhere, and my role is to come up with a louder campaign; I don’t know if I can be as creative, I’m not good at that; I see the other side has many resources, and they are very many, but I try to be louder and more present,” prime minister Florin Cîţu previously told Radio Guerrilla. 

On the same topic, the PM told the podcast Fain & Simplu cu Mihai Morar that more voices are needed to convince the public to get vaccinated. 

“It takes the message of everyone in Romania, not just my message. I’m a politician, and we know people don’t really trust politicians. I kept talking, but fresh voices are needed,” the PM said.

The PM said he hoped that at least 50% of the country’s population would be vaccinated by August 1, a date when more restrictions could be eased. “After August 1, we can speak about easing other restrictions. By August 1, we hope to have 50-60% of the population vaccinated,” Cîțu said.

The PM also pointed to a vaccination “competition” between Bucharest and Cluj. In Bucharest, the vaccination rate stands at 42%, while in Cluj, it is at 39%, he said.

Meanwhile, Valeriu Gheorghiță warned that, even if the current epidemiological situation is favorable, the pandemic is not over yet. “If not enough people get vaccinated, going through the illness will not offer protection against the new strains,” he explained in an interview with the public television station TVR.

More vaccination events are planned for this weekend. In Ialomița county, the authorities plan to organize a raffle with prizes such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops, for the county’s youth who will get vaccinated. 

On May 26, 71,522 got the jab, with 25,404 receiving the first dose. Since the start of the vaccination campaign, 4.2 million people received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine: 3,317,789 were fully vaccinated, and 890,935 received the first dose.

(Photo: George Călin/ Inquam Photos)

simona@romania-insider.com