It’s COVID-19 that killed 56,000 Romanians, not the vaccines, vaccination coordinator says

“It is not vaccines that kill people, but COVID-19 disease killed 56,000 Romanians”, as 90% of the dead were unvaccinated, the coordinator of the vaccination campaign, Valeriu Gheorghiță, told a debate with the Roma community on the importance of vaccination and  on countering the conspiracy theories and vaccination fake news.

He also stated that vaccines remain effective against the Omicron variant, which has all the chances to become dominant in the coming months, including in Romania, and in the next period we will have more scientific data in this regard.

“This event is one of our initiatives in order to provide information to all representatives of the Roma community in Romania. Looking at the sociological data, people trust those close to them: the family, the community, the doctors. It is very important that our message should reach, with your help, every member of the Roma community. I believe that this pandemic must unite us, make us more responsible, more supportive,” added the vaccination campaign coordinator.

Valeriu Gheorghiță wants “vaccines to be universally accessible to all, without any gaps in access to vaccination and access to information. We will try to increase access to scientifically validated medical information in all communities, including the Roma community, where , in the pandemic, access to information was lower than in the general population. “

About COVID-19, Valeriu Gheorghiță says that “it is a disease that for the most part we can prevent through individual responsibility, group responsibility and vaccination”.

In his turn, the Head of the Emergency Department, Raed Arafat, said that “at this time, vaccination is safe, even with the new version, Omicron, there are indications that it reduces the risk of serious illness.”

Health Minister Alexandru Rafila also attended the debate with the Roma community, saying that many chronic patients in Romania believe that they should not be vaccinated, but the opposite is true: chronic patients should be vaccinated with priority against COVID-19, because the vaccine protects against serious form of disease and death and “there is no “absolute contraindication” to the vaccine.

Over 93% of COVID-19 deaths in Romania were recorded in chronically ill people, addedValeriu Gheorghiță.

“Many people say ‘I have asthma / I have hypertension, I don’t get vaccinated.’ It’s not true, it’s the exact opposite. There is no absolute contraindication to vaccination. This is the solution for those with chronic diseases, to get vaccinated. It is proven that deaths are reduced at least 10 times by vaccination,” said the Minister of Health.