Romania received the first batch of 10,000 vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus on Saturday and officially started the vaccination campaign on Sunday, December 27. The first person who took the vaccine was a nurse from the Matei Bals Institute for Infectious Diseases in Bucharest. She was soon followed by several hundred doctors and nurses from COVID-19 dedicated hospitals throughout the country.

Romania has contracted about 10 million doses of vaccine (made by BioNTech-Pfizer) and will receive about 140,000 doses each week, prime minister Florin Citu said on Saturday. Vaccination is free of charge and non-mandatory.

However, the authorities expect that at least 10.7 to 11 million people will take the vaccine in the next six months. This would lead to a level of collective immunization of 60-70%, according to military doctor Valeriu Gheorghita, the coordinator of the national vaccination campaign.

Romania’s vaccination campaign will be carried out in three stages. The first stake is dedicated to the medical personnel, the second one includes the high-risk population and essential workers, and the third one includes the rest of the population.

The Government has already launched an online platform dedicated to the vaccination campaign, where people will find information about the vaccination centers and will be able to register themselves for taking the vaccine.

editor@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Guvernul Romaniei Facebook page)