More than seven million Romanians have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the official RO Vaccinare site said on Wednesday.
“More than 7 million people are fully immunized!” read the message.
In actual figures, 7, 018,127 people are fully inoculated, which is 36.38% of the population.
“Today we passed the threshold…. Vaccination is the best solution to protect against Covid-19,” the post read.
It added that the vaccine reduced the risk of infection, lessened the risk of transmitting the virus, ”considerably” reduced the risk of a hospital stay, and finally “reduced the risk of death,” the Facebook message said.
Vaccine hesitancy is widespread in Romania partly caused by a a distrust of authorities and the healthcare system. Anti-vaxxer campaigns are active on social media and elsewhere.
Romania is the second-least vaccinated country in the European Union after Bulgaria. Hundreds have died every day since October in Romania which is one of the highest rates in the world for the population size.
However, as the fourth wave led to record cases and deaths, some previously undecided people got vaccinated, pushing the numbers up. Some 39% of the population have now had one dose, with the rate much higher in major cities.
Romanian health authorities say that more than 90% of the deaths are unvaccinated people.
Romania began its vaccine campaign in December 2020. It has authorized Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and the single-dose Johnson&Johnson.
