Romania is expected to receive 2.6 million Covid-19 vaccine doses this month, prime minister Florin Cîţu explained in a Facebook post.

He mentioned that the third and last stage of the vaccination campaign, targeting the general public, will open soon, allowing anyone to protect themselves against Covid-19 by receiving the jab.

“The faster we achieve a community immunity of 70%, the sooner we return to the life before Covid-19,” Cîţu said.

All the vaccines approved in the EU and Romania are safe and effective, the PM said, mentioning that more than 300 million Covid-19 vaccine doses were administered so far in 111 countries.

A total of 224,640 vaccine doses manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech are set to reach Romania on Monday, March 8. Another batch of vaccines should be delivered on March 15, and the authorities are waiting for confirmation from the manufacturer, the committee coordinating the national vaccination campaign said.

By March 7, 1,174,218 people received the vaccine in the country: 652,268 both doses and 521,650 the first dose. 

The authorities are also expected to announce a decision regarding the age limit for the AstraZeneca vaccine soon, Valeriu Gheorghiţă, the coordinator of the national vaccination campaign, said. After initially recommending the vaccine for people up to 55 years old and considering pushing the threshold to 65, the authorities are now looking at lifting the age restriction completely, Gheorghiţă told television station Antena 3.

(Photo: Guvernul Romaniei Facebook Page)

simona@romania-insider.com