Suspicion of vaccines is one of the reasons why immunization rates against covid-19 in Romania and Bulgaria are the lowest in the European Union. That puts the bloc's poorest members at greater risk amid a fourth wave of the delta strain-fueled pandemic.
The "Financial Times" writes that the scams add to the frustration of the authorities in Romania, where some doctors allow people not to get vaccinated and still issue certificates that make it easier for them to work and travel.
"A lot of people have postponed vaccination until now," Health Minister Joana Mihaila told the FT. "We understand their concerns and it is their right to research everything about vaccines and make the right decision, but now is the time to make that decision because the risk of infection will increase."
Gindrovel Dumitra, chairman of the vaccination group at the National Society of Family Medicine, told the FT that it was true that patients often sought confirmation but not the vaccine. The few doctors who do not refuse it endanger the entire society, he said.
Among the doctors who are involved in such "lavabo vaccination" - in Romania they call it that because the vaccine ends up in the drain - there is a doctor suspected of issuing false certificates to her husband's football team, which then played in tournaments, Digi24 television reported.
Andrej Baciu, vice president of the National Committee for Coordination of Vaccination against Covid-19 (CNCAV), estimated that there were more than 400 false cases out of over two million certificates issued.
Other estimates are higher and some doctors say that every vaccination center in the country has received patients who tried to get certified without vaccination.
There are large differences in vaccination rates among EU countries, with some exceeding the 70 percent target and others in the poorer eastern parts lagging far behind.
At the end of August, the European Union announced that 70 percent of its population was fully vaccinated, thus achieving the goal it set at the beginning of the year.
Only slightly more than a quarter of Romanians are fully vaccinated, which is the second lowest rate among EU members, behind Bulgaria with 17 percent, according to FT data. Both are lagging far behind the other members and according to data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. All other bloc members vaccinated at least half of the population.
Officials in Romania and Bulgaria attribute the low rate to rural and less-educated populations, delays in the supply of vaccines and a general distrust of medicine, fueled by fake news on the Internet.
"At first I didn't believe in the vaccine and I wanted to wait and see how people react to it," a 51-year-old Romanian man who identified himself as Alin told the FT, citing ambiguous information about the use, side effects and effectiveness of different vaccines. "I read absolutely all the reasons for and against ... I wouldn't get vaccinated, I don't want something in my body that hasn't been tested enough".
Romania and Bulgaria are seeing a rapid increase in the number of cases, with the daily number of new infections reaching around 1.500 by the beginning of September, the highest level since the beginning of May. Both countries were hit hard in the third wave of the pandemic in the spring, when the countries of Central and Eastern Europe were at the top of the world in the number of victims per capita. The number of cases dropped in the summer, so people relaxed again.
"It seems they thought we had overcome the pandemic," Bulgaria's chief health inspector Angel Kunchev told the FT. He added that the government is making efforts to motivate everyone to get vaccinated. "The vaccination coverage we have is not satisfactory," said Kunčev.
Bulgaria started immunization slowly this year, concentrating its purchases on AstraZeneca vaccines, which were cheaper and easier to store. It bought far fewer mRNA vaccines than it was allocated under the EU procurement programme. The FT says that strategy has backfired due to AstraZeneca's delivery delays.
Kunchev said that the fear of vaccination is reinforced by fake news on social networks, but that with the start of school, people begin to understand that the pandemic is not over.
”I think we can handle her. We also have experience from other pandemics. In the past weeks, there has been an increase in the number of people who want to be immunized, and I believe we can talk about a tendency".
Romania is trying to make the immunization process as easy as possible for people, and the warehouses are so well equipped that its government has offered South Korea an urgent delivery of 1,5 million doses of mRNA vaccines.
The Minister of Health said that the government will deliver vaccines to patients' doorsteps and even offer prizes and incentives. "In big cities, where the transmission rate is always higher, the overall vaccination rate is (already) around 50 percent," she said.
Only slightly more than a quarter of Romanians are fully vaccinated, which is the second lowest rate among EU members, behind Bulgaria with 17 percent. All other bloc countries have vaccinated at least half of the population
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