Today, the Romanian government organized a press conference in which it tried to reassure people about the problems with the AstraZeneca vaccine, the prime minister saying that the deaths recorded after vaccination with this serum were not related to the vaccine itself, recommending that the vaccination continue.
The Romanian government also says that the actions of those who recommend not wearing a mask, not respecting social distancing, or distribute false information about the vaccine, are comparable to the actions of terrorists, which is extremely serious.
"I have seen more information in the public space and I say they need to be very careful about it. First of all, the European Medicines Agency, which made the recommendation to the European Commission to authorize all types of vaccine in Romania, maintains the same opinion: the vaccination campaign must continue with all types of vaccine, with the monitoring of possible adverse effects. Nothing changed. Regarding the type of vaccine that was discussed in the public space yesterday, the European Agency says very clearly that there are no indications, at this moment, that make any connection between the few cases and the vaccine. Therefore, the vaccination campaign must continue, of course with the monitoring of possible adverse effects. At the European level, there are already 5 million people vaccinated with this type of vaccine and we have, of course, one country - Great Britain - that vaccinates its entire population, and it would be hard to believe that a government would be so irresponsible. So we have to trust the experts, those who authorized, recommended the authorization of these types of vaccine, that they will continue to do their job. At the same time, and I would like it to be very clear, I said from the first day: if it was possible, I would have vaccinated myself with any type of vaccine. I got vaccinated with what was then. But if there is a chance in the future, if we have to vaccinate again, of course, I will vaccinate with whatever it is then. So I trust the experts and especially the experts of the European Medicines Agency. At the same time, in Romania, for a year, there has been a campaign against these actions taken by the Government to stop the pandemic. There is a campaign against wearing a mask in public space, there is a campaign against social distancing and there is a campaign against vaccination. From my point of view, these actions are similar to the actions of some terrorists, because thwarting this action, this activity of the Government, which aims to improve the health of all Romanians, is an action that tries to undermine the authority of the state, without data. I repeat, we must always look to the specialists, that is where our information comes from. And last but not least, I saw last night that some televisions said that the decision taken in Romania, regarding the suspension of the batch that remained from AstraZeneca, would have been taken by me. It was not made by me, it was made by a group of specialists and, like you, I await the scientific substantiation of the decision that was made last night. Next you have to understand that trust - and this is why I am very angry with this campaign against action - trust is very hard to earn and we trust this campaign and it has worked and is working very well, but if we are not careful, trust is lost very easily .
We have to look at those who authorized all these vaccines and they are telling us today that there are no indications and we have to continue exactly as it has been until now.
Thank you! I will not take questions today, but for questions about the safety of the vaccination campaign, at three o'clock, CNCAV will have a question and answer session on the Facebook page. There you will be able to talk to the specialists and please, every time, get information from the specialists, there you will have the best information."
