Although the required number of vaccinations to prevent the flu from spreading in Romania is around three million, less than 500,000 people get the vaccines, according to Alexandru Rafila, former state secretary within the Health Ministry and president of the Romanian Microbiology Society.

The flu vaccination rate has dropped significantly in Romania in recent years, not because of the Health Ministry's lack of interest, but because people aren't interested anymore in getting immunized against the flu.

“We had 2.7 million dozes of vaccine administered in Romania in 2008 when we recorded a peak. We then started a downward trend and we came to register, for the second year in a row, a free vaccination rate of 500,000 dozes,” said Rafila, cited by local Mediafax.

A few other hundred thousand dozes of vaccine from the private market can be added to this figure, he added.

The flu vaccine is recommended to all children over 6 months, as well as to adults. Pregnant women, children aged under 5, the elderly, people with chronic diseases, and health professionals are on the priority list for flu vaccines.

The vaccine should be done before the flu virus starts to circulate, namely in October, and should be continued as long as the virus is active in the community. In Romania, the vaccination campaign will start after October 15.

Romanian families spend EUR 5 per month on health services

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com