President Klaus Iohannis has attended on Thursday the opening ceremony of the first mobile vaccination centre in Ilfov county, in Afumati commune. Iohannis said he is content with the vaccination campaign and urged people to go take the jab against COVID-19, underlining that only through vaccination we can get rid of the pandemic. He mentioned that we can consider to gradually lift several restrictions.
“We are very close to the capacity we wanted of 10,000 people vaccinated per day. I am very content with the way the vaccination campaign has gone. Preparations have been made in a record time so far. I am very happy many people are coming to get vaccinated,” the Romanian president noted, informing that more such mobile vaccination centres like the one in Afumati will be used in all locations where vaccination is needed and that people will be able to come without appointment to take the jab directly in their commune.
“We are still in the middle of pandemic. Let’s not consider that if spring arrived the pandemic has ended. The imposed restrictions will not remove the pandemic, they are just reducing the impact, slowing down the transmission. We give a chance to the doctors to treat the patients who develop severe forms of the infection.
There is only one way to get out of the pandemic and this is vaccination. Only vaccination will allows us to go on holiday in summer, to attend concerts, to go the the theatre.
We have more and more type of vaccines and even if there are a lot of debates, EMA approved all types of vaccine. They can be used, they are checked and safe. I will further get involved in the vaccination campaign,” the head of state said.
He opined that the vaccination campaign in Romania is a success. “The vaccination campaign went well, although there were not enough doses, we managed to secure an important number of doses. There are over 2 million people vaccinated. It is a clear success. We rank 4th in Europe on two vaccine doses administered. It is not a little thing for a country with a healthcare in trouble. If we get vaccinated, we can consider lifting restrictions gradually by summer,” Iohannis stated.
Iohannis: The change in the Cabinet was correct
President Iohannis took his first stance on the the recent crisis in the ruling coalition prompted by the sacking of the Health minister Vlad Voiculescu, saying the “change in the Cabinet was correct”, hinting to Voiculescu’s dismissal.
Referring to the contradictory statements on vaccination made by PM Citu and deputy PM Barna opined that “there were some less fortunate statements on both sides”.
As for the new amended protocol agree by the coalition, the head of state said “the protocol is not cutting anyone’s powers”. “In every coalition it is good to have collaboration rules in place. I am convinced that the coalition will work better from now on“.