Romania could start offering a third Covid-19 vaccine dose to medical staff and vulnerable groups as early as next week, the country’s vaccine coordinator said Tuesday.
Romania posted almost 7,000 new cases on Tuesday, the highest daily number since Dec. 10 last year.
Romania has lagged behind other European Union countries in vaccinating residents. Some 5.3 million have been fully inoculated.
Valeriu Gheorghita, vaccine coordinator said authorities were currently „optimizing” the national vaccine platform. People who have had Pfizer and Moderna shots will be eligible for a third dose.
Vaccine hesitancy is rooted in a distrust in state institutions and widespread and unsubstantiated reports about side effects from the jabs.
Authorities on Tuesday said that Romania had received 18.5 million doses of Covid vaccines, and has used just over half of them.
Some 750,000 doses have expired, and Romania has donated some 2.1 million doses, most to neighboring Moldova.
It has sold vaccines to Denmark and Ireland to avoid unused stocks of vaccines from hitting the expiration date.
Coronavirus cases surge to almost 7,000, touching nine-month high in Romania
