COVID-19 vaccines for children aged between 5 and 11 years are planned to arrive in Romania on January 25, according to Valeriu Gheorghita, the coordinator of the national vaccination campaign. Vaccinations of children in this age group will start the following day, on January 26.

“The delivery schedule for paediatric doses has been modified in the sense that all 114,000 doses will arrive in Romania on January 25 and will be distributed to the storage centres, then to regional DSPs (e.n. public health directorates), so that they are available in vaccination centres on the morning of January 26,” Gheorghita said, quoted by News.ro.

According to him, most doses will go to the Cantacuzino Institute in Bucharest (42,000), while the rest will be distributed to regional centres in Brasov, Cluj, Constanta, Timisoara, Iasi and Craiova.

Parents or legal representatives can book appointments for children on the dedicated online platform, but kids can also receive the vaccine without a prior appointment at the dedicated vaccination centres or family doctor’s offices. According to Valeriu Gheorghita, between January 13 and January 20, 2,841 appointments were made on the platform for children aged between 5 and 11 years.

According to the official report, more than 16.26 million COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered in Romania by January 20 to over 8.04 million people (of which 7.93 million fully vaccinated). However, public interest in the vaccine remains low in the country, with only 4,071 people receiving their first dose in 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Romania has been registering record infections this week, as Omicron is spreading. Health authorities reported more than 19,600 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, January 21, the highest daily tally to date, according to Digi24.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

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