Covid-19: RO health experts stress importance of vaccination amid worries about third wave

A speedy vaccination process can bring a smaller increase in the number of coronavirus cases, Alexandru Rafila, Romania’s representative to the WHO and a deputy of the Social Democrat Party (PSD), told television station Antena 3.

“We have a competition between the speed of the vaccination campaign and the potential increase in the number of cases. The faster we manage to vaccinate, the lower the increase will be; this doesn’t depend only on us; it also depends on the vaccine doses that reach Romania,” he explained.

He referenced a potential increase in the number of Covid-19 cases as the National Institute for Public Health (INSP) released an analysis outlining three increase scenarios: under an increase of 1% per day, the country would see 3,300 daily cases by March 20; under an increase of 2% per day, there would be 4,600 daily cases; and under an increase of 4% per day, there would be 8,900 daily cases by the same date.

Romania reported less than or around 3,000 daily cases since February 11, and 3,337 cases on February 24.

Rafila said he expected a middle ground between the first and second scenarios.

“I personally think we will be somewhere in between the scenario with 4,500 cases and the current situation, somewhere around 3,000 daily cases on average,” he said.

He also argued that people need to continue to follow the measures introduced to combat the pandemic.

In his turn, former health minister Nelu Tătaru argued Romania could not escape a third wave of the pandemic, and the current restrictions should remain in place.

“Europe is preparing for a third wave, and I don’t think we can escape this wave, but it is up to us how we ride it. The same restrictions remain, the same precautions; we are in a season where we have a vaccine, we vaccinated the first group [e.n. healthcare professionals], we are at the second group, we have the medical staff 90-95% vaccinated, we have a drop in hospital staff infections of 87%; I think we look at the third wave differently but, from the point of view of the precautions, they should remain the same,” Tătaru told television station B1 TV