Deputy PM Barna: I support any measure, no matter how firm, to encourage vaccination against COVID-19

The deputy Prime Minister Dan Barna declared on Tuesday evening that he supports any measure, no matter how firm, which could encourage vaccination against COVID-19 in Romania, mentioning that currently there is no mandatory vaccination against the novel coronavirus.

"Regarding vaccination, any measure, no matter how firm it is, I support it wholeheartedly. I believe that we should have had much firmer measures regarding vaccination, in the sense of limited access to events, not even for the testing part, but only for the people who are vaccinated, in order to encourage vaccination. Because yes, we are talking about the perspective of a fourth wave, which we see that it is active in many countries around the world. We are talking about a strain which responds to the vaccine, and that is very good, but for this one needs to be inoculated. It is much more contagious, if for the old strains, the original and the British one, from a family of 5, for the original strain one or two people were infected, for the British strain there were 3, but for this strain, Delta, 5 out of 5 are infected. If the virus comes about in your family, then the entire family will have COVID. It is very important if you are vaccinated not to have any symptoms, or very light symptoms, not to even need to go to the hospital, as opposed to the option in which you are not vaccinated, and, God forbid, you can end up in Intensive Care Unit or in a very serious situation. (...) There is no possibility, and I say this with sorrow, for mandatory vaccination, it is a matter which I respect and understand, but I support firm measures through which vaccination can be encouraged, because it is the situation through which we all can ensure that we will not reach those unpleasant situations that we lived last year," Dan Barna declared, for private broadcaster B1 TV.