Why Romanians Refuse to Get Vaccinated

Family doctors conducted a study to see why Romanians refuse the flu vaccine. The main reasons seem to be the fear of side effects, but also the wrong perception of vaccination. The study was conducted by the vaccinology group within the National Society of Family Doctors.

The conclusion is that we do not inform ourselves, nor are we informed by the authorities, by doctors, about these vaccines. The main fear of parents, when it comes to vaccinating children, is the fear of adverse effects.

People wonder and accuse that they are not informed about adverse effects, how often they can occur. There is information that is missing or that these people need.

The authorities have conducted studies on this topic, they know what information parents need, but unfortunately they do not come up with a communication as they should so that everyone understands that the vaccine is beneficial for our health over the years.

From one year to the next we see that the distrust in the vaccine and this distrust has increased even more since the pandemic, when the vaccine for covid appeared and many people said that it was an experiment.

Gindrovel Dumitra, vice president of the National Society of Family Physicians and coordinator of the Vaccinology Group, believes that it is extremely important to find a way for doctors’ advice to reach them and that this advice is in the interest of patients.

“We tried to get to the roots of attitudes, to see where these refusals to vaccinate come from,” explains the doctor. “From my point of view, it is an extremely complex phenomenon, which we will have to approach very seriously in the coming years, and it is not only the intervention of doctors that is needed, it is a complex team that is needed, because the phenomenon is complex.”

Gindrovel Dumitra believes that sociologists and psychologists should also be introduced into this team, so that the interventions are as adapted as possible. 

The Vice President of the National Society of Family Physicians and the coordinator of the Vaccinology Group also commented on the study figures.

“Basically, the largest share among those who refused vaccination, we are talking about 47.1%, have a distorted perception of risk. These patients simply stated “I don’t think it is necessary, I have never had the flu and I don’t think I need the vaccine”.

These people do not understand that this vaccination is in their interest.

A third of these patients, more precisely 34.2%, tell us that they are afraid. Whether they are afraid of adverse effects, or they are afraid of the actual sting, they are afraid of the injection.

Then, 19.5% of people say that they are not confident – they say that they do not have enough information about the vaccine or they do not trust the vaccine.

However, it must be said that even if we provide this information, they will still refuse. It is, in fact, a way of avoiding a definitive answer. These are about the three big topics that we have identified.”

Gindrovel Dumitra says that other themes are also present. For example, conspiracy ideas were encountered in only 2.6% of cases, that is, very few. Religious motives are also few, about 2.2%.

flu vaccineNational Society of Family DoctorsrefuseRomaniansside effectsstudyvaccinatedvaccination
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  • Panagiotis Spyridis

    The real question to ask is… why do Romanians live longer that most Europeans!