The flu vaccines that will be donated to Moldova by the U.S. Center for Vaccine Equity are produced by a Chinese company and are expected to reach the country at the end of October. The consignment of 200,000 flu shots is worth about US$1.8 million. This year only the persons with increased risk of infection could have flu vaccines. The private centers didn’t have flu shots in store during the last two seasons, IPN reports.

According to the Ministry of Health, the vaccination campaign will start immediately after the consignment arrives in Moldova, preferably before the end of October. The vaccines should be better administered before the spread of flu, but the campaign can continue throughout the flu season, even in January or later.

Owing to the limited number of flu shots that will be available in Moldova, these are recommended to persons with an increased risk of catching the infection.

President of the Union of Private Medical-Sanitary Institutions of Moldova Olga Schiopu has told IPN that the private institution she administers cannot purchase flu shots because these cannot be found in Moldova and no supplier is interested in importing these given that the quantity is too low.

“For 2016, these vaccines were brought as part of the national program. We presented the list of persons from our institution who form part of the risk group and should be vaccinated and were issued with the requested number of shots. We could not administer these to patients,” stated Olga Schiopu.

A number of 200,000 persons were immunized against flu during the 2016-2017 flu season. Three persons who weren’t vaccinated died from flu after developing complications.

During the last two seasons (2015-2017), the vaccines were provided by the Center for Vaccine Equity of the Task Force for Global Health (150,000 and 200,000 shots respectively). These were fully used and no severe side effects were reported. Moldova has cooperated with the Task Force for Global Health since 2015.