Two million people in Romania, or 10% of the population, will be vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of March, prime minister Florin Citu said. He believes that Romanians will be able to "give up wearing a mask" in the fall if large numbers of people decide to get the vaccine.

"Two million people, or 10% of the population, vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of March, in Romania. This weekend we will reach the threshold of one million Romanians vaccinated with both doses. This is the good news that should convince us to keep complying with the protective measures. If we go to get the vaccine in large numbers, we can give up wearing a mask in the fall," Citu said in a Facebook post on Saturday, March 27.

He also urged people to follow the prevention rules "to curb the rising number of infections and improve the situation in hospitals."

Romania's vaccination campaign kicked off on December 27. According to official data, more than 1.93 million people received a COVID-19 vaccine by March 28: 965,813 got the first dose, and 973,671 received both doses.

Valeriu Gheorghita, the coordinator of the national vaccination campaign, said that the COVID-19 vaccine might provide immunity against the disease for at least 12 months. Thus, he doesn't believe that a seasonal COVID-19 vaccination will be needed, Digi24 reported.

Asked at local news channel Antena 3 if people will need to get the COVID vaccine annually, Gheorghita replied: "In my opinion, and not only mine, but also in the experts' opinion, most likely not. There may be certain categories of people who are at risk of developing certain severe forms, and a single dose may be needed as a booster, but I don't think we're going to get seasonal shots like we do for the flu."

In related news, public health policy expert Razvan Chereches said that a fourth wave of the pandemic is possible by the end of this year but with a much smaller impact.

"Vaccines will not protect us against the third wave. We'll see a difference only at the end of summer, the beginning of autumn, when the fourth wave will begin," Chereches said at Digi24, News.ro reported. 

The professor explained that, following the vaccination campaign, the fourth wave will most probably come with a lower number of infections and hospitalizations "because we should already be approaching 10 million people vaccinated in the fall, and the pool of people who may be infected will be significantly lower."

According to him, Romanians could give up the sanitary protection mask "most likely somewhere in the winter of 2021, spring 2022."

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Octav Ganea)