PM Orban: There is an anti-COVID vaccine; it'c lear that it can solve the coronavirus epidemic

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban on Wednesday announced, at the beginning of the Government meeting, that there exists an anti-COVID vaccine, which is "a definite chance to solve this serious coronavirus epidemic."

"As you have seen in the official information, there is a COVID vaccine. It is in the final stages of approval, but the clinical trials have been completed and we finally see a clear chance to solve this serious epidemic of coronavirus, which has turned our lives upside down. "We need to be prepared, to organize ourselves, in order to be able to start the vaccination campaign as soon as we can access, basically, the first quantities that are distributed to us by the vaccine," said Ludovic Orban.

He said there was an agreement at European level on contracting the amount of vaccine doses, stating that all quantities are distributed in proportion to the population of each EU member state.

"We will not have the quantities at once, we will receive them in several stages and this work, basically, this joint effort of all the institutions that will be involved in the vaccination campaign will be an effort for a longer period of time, until we can succeeded in vaccinating," Orban added.

He also said that, at the meeting of the working group, convened by President Klaus Iohannis, the decision was made to structure the vaccination device, and the entire campaign will be led by Colonel Valeriu Gheorghita, primary infectious disease doctor at the Military Hospital.

Valeriu Gheorghita, present at the Government meeting, stated that the vaccination activity is the safest way to return, in the shortest time, to a normal life, mentioning that the strategy is close to completion.

"The activity of vaccination is the safest way in which we can return, in the shortest possible time, to a life as normal as possible, both socially and economically, personally and in all the field of activity. It is an inter-institutional effort, it is a strategy we have been working on for almost two months, through a combined activity of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of National Defence and the Ministry of Interior. We are close to finalizing the strategy. Early next week we can make it available for public presentation," said Gheorghita.

He also added that, at the moment, all the activities regarding the logistics of the vaccination activity will be started, from a medical and non-medical point of view, regarding the storage, distribution and, respectively, the transport of these vaccines.