Romanian authorities try to restore confidence in vaccination process after controversies related to AstraZeneca batch

Romanian will continue to use all three vaccines – Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca – in the national vaccination campaign, despite recent controversies related to a batch of AstraZeneca vaccines, prime minister Florin Citu said in a press statement. He said that the European Medicines Agency has also recommended that the vaccination campaign continues with all three vaccines and that he trusts the experts.

The Romanian prime minister’s statement came after the committee that coordinates the national vaccination campaign – CNCAV - reported that Romania has already used thousands of AstraZeneca vaccine doses from a batch that was suspended in Italy after two people died after vaccination. More precisely, Romania has already used 77,000 doses from that batch before suspending the use for some 4,200 doses that were left, for maximum precaution, according to CNCAV head Valeriu Gheorghita.

However, while the central authorities implied that the use of the 77,000 doses caused no problems, the Public Health Direction (DSP) in Gorj county announced on Friday that a 47-year-old man who died one day after vaccination had been vaccinated with a dose of AstraZeneca vaccine from the now-suspended batch. However, DSP Gorj director Narcis Stoian stated that there was no direct link between the vaccine and the man’s death, Hotnews.ro reported.

Valeriu Gheorghita also stated that the person died because of a heart attack and that the necropsy revealed he had suffered pre-strokes in the past, although these were not recorded in his medical file.

It remains to be seen whether these statements will restore the confidence in the vaccination process, as many Romanians were undecided about taking the shot even before the recent events.

Prime minister Florin Citu accused the campaigns against the Government’s measures for this situation. “In the last year, there has been a campaign against the Government’s measures to stop the pandemic. There is a campaign against wearing masks in public spaces. There is a campaign against distancing measures. There is a campaign against vaccination. From my point of view, these actions are similar to those of terrorists,” Citu said, adding that the authorities and people should always look at what the specialists say.

Romania will start the third phase of its national vaccination campaign on Monday, March 15, when the online vaccine registration platform opens for the general public. On Thursday, Mach 11, prime minister Florin Citu implied that Romania will mainly use the Pfizer vaccine in the coming month, as the country expects to get 3 million doses of this vaccine in April.