The routine vaccination must continue in this period, Health Minister Nelu Tataru said on the occasion of the European Immunization Week (EIW), which started on Friday.

"With a pandemic now in full swing, we realise how important it is to have vaccines for infectious diseases and use them in due time for the prevention of contagion with vital risk. Although in this period we are focusing our actions in the fight against the novel coronavirus, we must be aware that there are still other transmissible illnesses that can affect people's health, children in particular, when left unprotected against some illnesses that can be fatal, such as rubella, diphtheria or tetanus. Let's not forget we still have an ongoing rubella epidemic in Romania with approximately 20,000 cases and 64 deaths. We mustn't lower the guard, the routine vaccination must continue in this period, as we have the obligation to prevent contagion of any kind, more than ever," Tataru said, according to a Health Ministry release.

For the 2020-2021 season, the ministry plans to purchase 3,000,000 doses of influenza vaccine for the free immunization campaign for people at high risk for the disease. The Ministry of Health states that it has already purchased the necessary doses for influenza vaccination of children aged between 6 months and 5 years, the first contract for tetravalent influenza vaccine for this age category having been signed.

According to the same source, in the context in which in Romania the vaccination rate has decreased in recent years, a priority is the implementation of programmes in the field and ensuring compliance with the provisions included in the legislation.

"In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, all the general measures recommended by specialists against COVID-19 (hand hygiene, respiratory hygiene/cough etiquette, social distancing) and specific measures for the prevention and control of infection are implemented at the level of family physician offices. These measures will be strengthened by administrative measures arranged together with the Public Health Directorates such as telephone triage, scheduling the vaccination service at the doctor's office, setting up separate medical circuits, separating immunization services from curative ones to reduce the risk of disease transmission, strict observance of personal protection measures both by the medical staff and by the accompanying parent and child, elaboration of recovery plans where vaccination has been temporarily interrupted," the press release reads. AGERPRES (RO - author: Roberto Stan, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Adina Panaitescu, editor: Cristina Zaharia)