Romania is to receive on May 31 a batch of more than one million Pfizer BioNTech vaccine doses, the committee coordinating the vaccination campaign announced. It is the largest batch received since the start of the vaccination campaign.

The 1,091,610 vaccine doses will be delivered to airports in Bucharest (Otopeni), Cluj-Napoca, and Timișoara.

So far, Romania received 7.9 million Pfizer BioNTech vaccine doses, and 6,184,534 were used.

The country currently has around one million Covid-19 vaccine doses in stock, Valeriu Gheorghiţă, the coordinator of the national vaccination campaign, told television station Digi24. 

Speaking of a decreased interest for AstraZeneca’s vaccine, Gheorghiţă said the doses would either be donated or sold, News.ro reported.

Gheorghiţă also pointed to significant differences between the vaccination rates in various counties. The involvement of the local authorities is tightly linked to the vaccination coverage, Gheorghiță told Digi24, explaining that more talks would be held with those responsible locally. 

He also said he did not expect higher numbers of people getting vaccinated, but the geographical coverage of vaccination would increase.

“In the coming period, it is obvious we will not have very high numbers, a very high number of people [getting vaccinated], but we will have greater geographical coverage. We will have teams in rural areas, trying to ensure access to the vaccine for those who found access more difficult so far,” Gheorghiță explained.

Some 15-20% of the vaccination centers currently run below capacity, he said, adding that these centers would either be relocated to areas with more demand or their staff will be part of mobile vaccination teams.

“We no longer have very many people willing to go several tens of kilometers to a vaccination center; it is a reality, but we still have many people who wish to get vaccinated, and the idea is to bring the vaccine as closer to the beneficiaries as possible,” he said.

By May 30, 4,299,481 people received a Covid-19 vaccine: 3,509,909 were fully vaccinated and 789,572 received the first dose.

(Photo: Octav Ganea/ Inquam Photos)

simona@romania-insider.com