The higher is the number of people who get COVID-19 vaccines, developing collective immunity, the faster the Moldovans will return to normality at the personal and professional levels, said Ninel Revenco, coordinator of the national immunization plan and of the communication group on COVID-19 vaccination. “Immunization against the virus is gratis and is not mandatory, but it is one of the best solutions for reducing the risk of developing a severe form of disease. As in the case of vaccines against other diseases, this vaccination can save your life and the lives of people with whom you communicate, of relatives, friends, acquaintances,” said the specialist, being quoted by IPN from an informative bulletin of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection.
According to her, the vaccine against COVID-19 is an instrument of major importance that can help contain the pandemic. The acceptance of the vaccine is the critical element in implementing programs of immunization against diseases that can be prevented by vaccination, including COVID-19.
Ninel Revenco noted the national vaccination campaign in Moldova will consist of three stages. The first stage will last for about two months and will cover the healthcare workers, personnel and beneficiaries of old people’s homes and placement centers. The second stage will last for three to six months and will embrace persons older than 60 and with comorbidies, personnel of public order, state security and defense institutions and of the penitentiary, education and social services systems. The general population will be vaccinated at the third stage.
Moldova can store up to 400,000 doses of vaccines at the temperature of -70 degrees Celsius, at the National Public Health Agency. The public health centers have cold storage facilities that can ensure temperatures of -20 degrees Celsius. Also, four pieces of cold storage equipment are to be bought with the COVID-19 response mechanism.
Asked how safe the vaccines against COVID-19 are, Ninel Revenco said all the vaccines were approved by the authorities of the EU and the U.S. and were prequalified by the WHO. They passed through all the necessary clinical testing stages. Over 40,000 people took part in the studies and no severe side effects were witnessed. “The vaccines produced by Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, which were approved for utilization as an emergency, were administered over 50 million times without recording severe side effects. The COVID-19 vaccines for all the member states of the European Union are approved by the European Commission by a centralized evaluation procedure coordinated with the European Medicines Agency,” she stated, noting the procedure for authorizing the COVID-19 vaccines in Moldova will be performed by the Medicines and Medical Devices Agency based on the request of the Ministry of Health or the National Public Health Agency.
At the first stage, there will be immunized 7,000 healthcare workers of intensive care units and units that treat patients infected with the novel coronavirus.
