PM Orban: I am a supporter of the vaccine; we must counteract the absurdities of the antivaccine campaigns

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban on Tuesday stated that he is a supporter of vaccination "as an instrument that fights diseases" and that the authorities should be pro-active in informing the population to counteract "the absurdities" and "the aberrations" that the antivaccine campaigns bring about.

"My standpoint is very clear: I am a supporter of vaccine. Here, in exchange, we should be more pro-active and we should have more information campaign to counteract the absurdities and all the aberrations that we have heard from the campaigns - and I don't know who finance them, because it's clear that someone does - these anti-vaccine campaigns, which are obviously part of an elaborate mechanism of a disinformation strategy that we see not only in Romania, but it is present in several European countries and which, for the most part, I think has its source outside Europe, further east," said Orban, at the online debate "Resetting the health system: from the experience of the COVID crisis, to reform and modernization," organised by CursDeGuvernare.ro, with the support of ARPIM (the Romanian Association of International Medicines Manufacturers).

According to the Prime Minister, the misinformation is "systemic, well-funded and well thought out", generating an "absurd reaction from many mature people" who give credence to these campaigns.

He noted that the government is considering making 3-4 million doses of flu vaccine for the public in the autumn.

"I am definitely in favour of the vaccine. It is fundamentally a tool in the fight against the disease. And now, for example, we are looking for the COVID vaccine. Sure, we are also looking for treatment, but we are looking for the COVID vaccine. In thinking about how to do things in autumn, when the epidemic is thought to return, we are thinking of doing a large-scale influenza vaccination, at 3,000,000 - 4,000,000, it depends on how many doses of vaccine we manage to collect, as a means to simplify - let's say - that if you have a case of flu vaccine, with flu symptoms, then it is more than likely to be COVID. The vaccine is extremely important. Our response must be smart persuading campaigns," he said.