Romanians' interest in vaccination, "still low"

Host: Cristina Grecu - The number of daily Covid-19 cases is increasing. In the last few days, the threshold of 900, and even 1.000, has been exceeded. Hospitals are getting crowded; the level of June 2021 has already been reached again, ie over 1.700 hospitalized people. In addition, the authorities expect the number of new cases to be even higher in the near future. However, Romanians' interest in vaccination is still low, especially in rural areas. There are villages where the percentage of those vaccinated is less than 10%; an example in this sense is Vaslui county.

Reporter: Alina Darie - The situation of COVID-19 cases in Vaslui County registered by the Public Health Directorate is alarming, as the number of infections increases from one day to another. For example, in 24 hours, 10 people were detected as infected with the new coronavirus, thus reaching a total of 81 cases in the county. 29 people are hospitalized, and the others are isolated at home. From the official data of the Vaslui Public Health Directorate, it results that the lowest vaccination rate continues to be in rural areas.

Mihaela Vlada, head of the Public Health Directorate: Reluctance exists in rural areas in Vaslui County. We have communities with a vaccination rate below 5%. There we will go with mobile teams. We are also waiting for the contribution of family doctors to support us in this campaign.

Reporter: About 60% of all family doctors in Vaslui County have not yet been actively involved in the vaccination campaign. Most of the inhabitants of the villages of Vaslui who want to get vaccinated come to the city, to the centers opened by the Public Health Directorate.

Reporter: In Vaslui County, the vaccination rate of the eligible population is low, around 23%. The county authorities urge the people to get vaccinated, to respect the hygiene rules and to avoid crowded places as much as possible.

Translated by: Radu Matei