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The coordinator of the anti-COVID vaccination campaign in Romania, the military doctor Valeriu Gheorghiță, states, in an interview for HotNews.ro, that the most optimistic scenario is that the first doses of vaccine will arrive in Romania at the end of December, and in most pessimistic scenarios, in the first quarter of 2021. The population will be able to be vaccinated after about 2-3 months from the start of the vaccination campaign in our country, and the vaccination will be free and voluntary. The Army and structures of the Ministry of the Interior will participate in the distribution and transportation of the vaccine.
Brief information:
- In the most optimistic scenario, the first doses of the COVID vaccine will arrive in Romania at the end of December.
- In the most pessimistic scenario, our country will receive the vaccine in the first quarter of 2021.
- Romania will receive 10.7 million doses of the COVID vaccine from the European Commission in installments. The first delivery will be around 1.2 million doses if the vaccine arrives in December. If you arrive in January, the amount will be double: both in December and in January. These are estimated data, because it all depends on the opinions of the European Medicines Agency for a safe vaccine.
- The vaccination will be free and voluntary.
- In a first stage, employees of the medical system, social services, the elderly, patients with chronic diseases and employees of key areas – defense, education or energy will be vaccinated.
- Ordinary people will be able to get vaccinated after about 2-3 months from the start of the vaccination campaign in Romania.
- Vaccination centers will be set up in areas such as gymnasiums or conference rooms.
- There will be a main vaccination reception center, most likely the Cantacuzino Institute, and regional and local centers.
- The Army and structures of the Ministry of the Interior will participate in the distribution and transportation of the vaccine.
The full interview given by HotNews.ro by Dr. Valeriu Gheorghiță, appointed to coordinate the anti-COVID vaccination campaign in Romania:
HotNews.ro: What is the total amount Romania will receive, in installments, and what is the most optimistic date when the first doses will arrive in Romania? But the most pessimistic date?
Valeriu Gheorghiță: Romania will receive a vaccine from the European Commission for 10.7 million people. If things go well in terms of the approval process at the level of the European Medicines Agency, it is possible that the process of distribution of the vaccine in the EU member countries will start in the second half of December.
The first tranche will be approximately 1.2 million doses of vaccine. If there are no approvals for December and the first tranche of vaccine will arrive in Romania in January, this amount may double, bringing the amount from December to January. If Romania receives the first tranche in January, it would be around 2.4 million doses of vaccine.
These are estimates. It depends a lot on the approval process, which does not belong to Romania, but rather to a much more complicated mechanism at European level, respectively the approvals of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for a safe and effective vaccine.
The most pessimistic date for the arrival of the first tranche of vaccine to Romania is the first quarter of 2021.
HotNews.ro: The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine must be transported and stored at a temperature of minus 80 degrees. Does Romania have such capacity to maintain the vaccine in such conditions and where?
Valeriu Gheorghiță: It is our duty now to create all the necessary facilities to receive in perfect condition, store and distribute this vaccine. The necessary facilities exist, and at the moment we are in the approval stage. Location data may change because they are part of the vaccination campaign itself, which will be carried out based on the vaccination strategy. It is not set exactly right now and work is still going on and this issue is being discussed in the working group.
There will be a main reception center, there will be regional centers and subsequently decentralized local vaccination centers throughout the country. Various scenarios are being considered for the main vaccine reception center, but it is very possible that this is the Cantacuzino Institute.
HotNews.ro: Will the Army, the Police, the Gendarmerie participate in the transportation and distribution of the vaccine?
Valeriu Gheorghiță: Several key institutions of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of the Interior, the logistics part related to the public health departments will be involved, through the cars they already have. There are structures within these ministries that will be involved in the transportation and distribution of the vaccine, each with well-defined responsibilities and with certain activities in which they will work together. We are working on this now, to combine the best possible activities in the institutions, just to be a fluid organization, without coordination and communication difficulties.
HotNews.ro: Does Romania have the logistical capacity for transportation, distribution of the vaccine, are acquisitions necessary?
Valeriu Gheorghiță: I don’t think there are acquisitions. We are in the process of evaluating existing resources, to make the most of all resources, so we have a quick reaction and do not stay in the hiring procedures that take time. We need to move very fast and have a complete and functional setup.
HotNews.ro: Who will be vaccinated in the first stage?
Valeriu Gheorghiță: In the first stage, all workers in the medical sector, which includes many categories of personnel, and those in the social services, in nursing homes, children’s homes, will benefit from the vaccine. There are priority categories.
In the second category, who will benefit from the vaccine are two priority subgroups – vulnerable people, that is, the elderly and people with chronic diseases and, on the same priority criteria, people in critical infrastructure. These are employees who attend to the key activities in the operation of the state (education, national defense, transportation, energy supply, food distribution, drinking water, waste management).
These categories will benefit from the vaccine of the first installment that will arrive in Romania, but it is possible that at this stage we can expand to other categories.
We are working in various scenarios, we have staged the vaccination stages, and if at the same time a larger quantity of vaccine will be available from one or more producers, we must have created this mechanism that will allow us to start concrete. vaccination activity.
HotNews.ro: Where will the vaccination take place and who will vaccinate people? Are there enough staff?
Valeriu Gheorghiță: There will be teams that will take care of the medical triage, the anamnesis, the actual administration of the vaccine, the follow-up of the person immediately after vaccination. There will also be an electronic data recording system, in order to have real monitoring and traceability including dose, type of vaccine, ampoules.
The vaccination teams are designed and consist of a doctor, assistant, recorder, triage people, first aid team. It is a whole system, but now I cannot make a numerical estimate of the personnel that will be involved, because at the moment the number of vaccination centers is being discussed and there is a lot of data that must be taken into account, such as population density , geographic concentration. of certain vulnerable categories. We know very well that very large cities, such as Bucharest, require a much larger number of vaccination centers and such staff estimates can be made based on the number of vaccination centers that we are going to establish in the near future.
Medical personnel will be vaccinated in hospitals. The other categories may be vaccinated in family doctors and in fixed and mobile vaccination centers.
The vaccination centers will be installed in spaces that must meet certain conditions, first of all be wide, to allow circuits and physical distance between people. For example, vaccination centers will be set up in gymnasiums or large conference rooms. For Bucharest, an example is Romexpo, because the space allows the arrangement of many vaccination offices, it has access in various ways, it allows the organization of circuits.
This is a model proposed at the European level, as organized by other countries. Romania is part of a European approach, and vaccination activity is carried out practically simultaneously in all countries.
There will also be mobile vaccination teams that will go to vaccinate personnel in critical infrastructure, such as a nuclear power plant or in an electricity or gas distribution area. We will not call those employees to the center, but there will be mobile teams that will go to vaccinate them.
HotNews.ro: When will ordinary people be able to get vaccinated against COVID?
Valeriu Gheorghiță: As an optimistic date, vaccination of the general population could start about 2-3 months after the start of the vaccination campaign in Romania. If vaccination begins in January for medical personnel and for the target categories of the first stage, it would probably be from March for the rest of the population. But it all starts with the condition that there are proven vaccines.
HotNews.ro: Will the vaccine be free?
Valeriu Gheorghiță: The vaccine will be free for everyone. It is very important to know that vaccination is free and voluntary, after informing people about the benefits and risks of the vaccine.
Valeriu Gheorghiță: This uncertainty is legitimate, because people do not have all the information at this time. It’s not about convincing them, it’s about providing information to people so they can make the right decision. People need access to information and we will do so through a campaign that we want to be as transparent, honest as possible, with patient associations, with professional associations, each one to spread the message about the level of competence, at the level of of beneficiaries, so that each person has enough information about the benefits, risks and importance of vaccination work in general, just to make a decision. Let the man know why you are refusing or refusing to get vaccinated.
It is important to have access to information and everyone agrees that this information and communication campaign is very important. We are already working on this information campaign. On Thursday we had meetings with the representatives of the College of Physicians, with the associations of patients with chronic diseases, we have already begun to have the first meetings to create communication channels between us and these organizations, to know their needs and fears.
HotNews.ro: What is the most frequent argument of people who do not want to be vaccinated against COVID?
Valeriu Gheorghiță: Lack of rigorous information at this time to support the efficacy and safety of a vaccine.
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The vaccination strategy against COVID-19 would be made public next week, and Dr. Valeriu Gheorghiță from the Central Military Hospital was appointed coordinator of the campaign.
