The Covid-19 vaccine coverage in Romania got stuck at around one quarter of the eligible population, less than two months before September 1, a deadline imposed by the European Commission on EU member states by which they should have achieved, through vaccination, group immunity.

Assuming the vaccination pace remains constant, Romania will reach the threshold of 10 million vaccinated citizens with the complete scheme only on March 6, 2023, experts estimate.

"If the vaccination rate seen in the last seven days remains constant, the vaccination target of 10 million people (52% of the resident population) set for September 1, 2021, will be reached only on February 13, 2023. On September 1, 2021, we will not have even 30% of the population vaccinated with at least one dose," says bio-statistician and physician Octavian Jurma, quoted by daily Adevarul.

The interest for the Covid-19 vaccination campaign in rural areas, carried out by the Harghita Public Health Directorate and the Prefect's Institution, is very low in some communities, with localities where no one wanted to be immunized, Agerpres, quoted by G4media.ro, reports.

The situation is not much different in other counties, though. Speaking of the mobile vaccination teams going to rural areas, Dr. Tar Gyöngyi, the head of the Harghita Public Health Department (DSP), gave the example of the Joseni commune, where no one wanted to get vaccinated when the mobile team traveled to the locality.

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andrei@romania-insider.com