COVID-19 booster shots could be made available in Romania starting early October at the latest, doctor Valeriu Gheorghita, the coordinator of the national vaccination campaign, told Digi24. According to him, those who received the vaccine produced by AstraZeneca will most likely be offered mRNA booster vaccines.

“If the European Medicines Agency makes this recommendation in early September, as we estimate, no later than early October, we will be able to start this stage of administering the booster shot,” Gheorghita said.

People will be able to make appointments on the official online platform or go directly to vaccination centres. The booster shots will first be given to medical staff and people in vulnerable categories who received their second dose at least six months ago. Those from other categories will be eligible later on.

According to Valeriu Gheorghita, the previous week’s statistics showed that 82% of positive tests and over 93% of deaths caused by infection with SARS-CoV-2 were among the unvaccinated, News.ro reported. He also said that there had been an increase of over 200% in cases of infection in people younger than 40 years.

“From this point of view, young people, in general, have been vaccinated less and interact more, are exposed to a higher risk of disease and thus the circulation of the virus is maintained and amplified,” Gheorghita said.

According to the official report released on August 22, only 5,643 people received a COVID-19 vaccine in Romania in the past 24 hours: 3,406 got the first dose, and 2,237 received the second dose.

In total, more than 9.66 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were administered in Romania by August 22 to over 5.18 million people (of which 5.05 million were fully vaccinated).

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Gov.ro)