Romania’s Covid-19 vaccination committee changes coordinator, activity to transition to Health Ministry

Andrei Baciu, a state secretary with the Health Ministry, is the new coordinator of the Covid-19 vaccination committee (CNCAV). He is replacing Valeriu Gheorghiţă, the head of the medical center for epidemiological intervention of the Dr. Carol Davila Military Hospital in Bucharest.

Baciu previously served as the deputy president of the committee.

Gheorghiţă will take over as the manager of the Agrippa Ionescu Emergency Hospital in Bucharest, a unit of the Romanian Intelligence Service, SRI announced.

Given the evolution of the pandemic in Romania and the appointment of a Health Ministry representative to lead the committee, the activities of CNCAV will transition to the vaccination program rolled out by the Health Ministry through family doctor practices, CNCAV said.

CNCAV will continue to manage the logistical and storage operations and “identify the best solutions to shift to the Health Ministry the responsibility of vaccinating the population against Covid-19.”

After a fifth wave that brought record-high numbers of cases, the daily count dropped below 10,000 in recent days. Health minister Alexandru Rafila, who proposed yesterday several measures aimed at easing the Covid-19 restrictions, said the authorities estimate the country will see less than 1,000 cases per day “in a week or two.”

On March 1, Romania reported 8,462 Covid-19 cases and 146 deaths. On March 2, the country reported 6,832 cases and 90 deaths.

Many Covid-19 vaccination centers closed recently against the low interest in vaccination. Less than 1,000 people per day received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in recent days. By March 1, 8,066,351 people were fully vaccinated against Covid-19, and 2,529,927 also had the booster dose.

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