The COVID-19 situation can be influenced by the authorities by coercive, discouraging and simulative measures and can be also influenced by the mass media. Those who enjoy the citizens’ trust should be coherent in their message about the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. We have the profile of a skeptical Moldovan citizen. Some do not believe in the existence of SARS-CoV-2, expert Igor Boțan stated in IPN’s public debate “Pandemic as a divergent factor for Moldovan society”.
Igor Boțan said that allowing access to restaurants, fitness centers and other places can be a simulative measure. As to the discouraging measures, functionaries should be entrusted with the task of supervising the COVID-19 protective measures in markets and should warn the persons who do not correctly wear a mask, as they do in supermarkets, for example. “Now that we have a new COVID-19 wave, fines should be imposed on the persons who do not obey the protective measures. The fines should not be of €1,100 as it was at the start of the pandemic, but should be of at least €10 and such a measure will have an effect,” said the project’s standing expert.
According to Igor Boțan, there is no data about the number of persons who returned from abroad earlier, who obeyed the self-isolation regime of 14 days as the authorities were preoccupied with the election campaign. “The behavior of some of the politicians was strange. The country had vaccine supplies of 200,000 to 400,000 doses in April-June, but the Socialist leader said that he negotiated with Russia to have the vaccine Sputnik V delivered to the Republic of Moldova. The electoral period passed and they forgot that they negotiated the bringing of large quantities of Sputnik V to the country. When the politicians speak about vaccine, but they themselves didn’t get a vaccine against COVID-19, speaking about the vaccine is reprovable. I call on the politicians to be an example for the citizens.
“Statistics show that only 18% of the vaccine doses in the Republic of Moldova were bought. The rest were donated by a number of states or were shipped through the COVAX Facility. If the politicians insist that Sputnik-V is popular with the citizens, the authorities should purchase it. We should communicate with the people and should not politicize the subject of vaccination,” stated Igor Boțan.
The public debate titled “Pandemic as a divergent factor for Moldovan society” was staged by IPN News Agency in the framework of the Developing Political Culture through Public Debates Project that is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
