Romania could receive the first doses of Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine in April, Valeriu Gheorghiţă, the coordinator of the national vaccination campaign, told radio station Digi FM.

It would be the fourth vaccine used in the country, in addition to the ones manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca.

“As we know, Johnson & Johnson filed the request to receive the authorization from the European Medicines Agency (EMA). We expect this authorization to come mid-March, which means that in April, we could receive the first doses from Johnson & Johnson,” Gheorghiţă said.

Johnson & Johnson’s Covid-19 vaccine is a single-shot adenovirus vector one, which will help make the vaccination process simpler, Gheorghiţă explained.

“It has one big advantage. At this point, it seems that one dose is enough. This simplifies a lot the vaccination process. The storage and distribution conditions are similar, with an average temperature of +2, +8 degrees Celsius. So we would have a fourth vaccine allowing the acceleration of the vaccination campaign and increased access to vaccination,” he explained.

Romania started the vaccination campaign on December 27 of last year. It is currently in the second phase, targeting vulnerable groups and staff in essential areas, after the first phase covered healthcare professionals. 

The vaccination of the general public will start in April, Gheorghiţă said.

Once all the vaccination centers in the country are open, more than 100,000 people could receive the vaccine daily, he explained.

“We have a usage rate of the doses received of more than 90% so far. This shows people’s high interest in vaccination. This is welcome, given that today some 30% of the vaccination points are open. In April, we aim to open all vaccination points, considering that we will continue with the second phase. At the same time, we will open the third vaccination phase starting April. Considering this, I am convinced we will reach that vaccination pace of more than 100,000 people per day,” he said.

By February 22, 819,447 people received the vaccine against Covid-19: 589,641 both doses and 229,806 the first dose. In the past 24 hours, 29,865 people received the vaccine.

(Photo: Siam Pukkato/ Dreamstime)

simona@romania-insider.com