In light of the current resurgence of COVID-19 in Romania, WHO/Europe is increasing its support to the country through the deployment of a senior expert, who will strengthen country-level response activities and facilitate the provision of essential COVID-19 supplies including 34 000 COVID-19 rapid diagnostic tests and close to 200 oxygen concentrators. This expanded technical support will cover key areas of the COVID-19 response, from surveillance, clinical guidance, risk communications and community engagement to vaccine roll-out.
Dr Heather Papowitz is a United States national with more than 20 years’ experience leading and managing programmes for health emergency and disaster risk management, preparedness and emergency response. On arrival, she will meet with national counterparts and conduct rapid field assessments to gain a first-hand understanding of the COVID-19 crisis. Dr Papowitz will work together with national health authorities to identify key priorities and immediate actions to be taken.
Tackling plateauing COVID-19 vaccine uptake
Despite a very good start to the national vaccination campaign in Romania in December 2020, there have been programmatic and operational challenges in the scale-up of vaccination activities. Less than 30% of the population has been fully vaccinated and vaccine uptake has plateaued.
Earlier this week, representatives of WHO/Europe and the WHO Country Office in Romania met with senior officials from the National Coordination Committee on Vaccination Activities against COVID-19 (CNCAV), the Ministry of Health and the National Centre for Surveillance and Control of Communicable Diseases. They discussed the current trend in COVID-19 vaccination uptake and considered pragmatic evidence-informed actions to rapidly scale up efforts to address this. In close coordination with the government and Ministry of Health, WHO/Europe will work closely with stakeholders to promote training opportunities and information exchange between health-care professionals on vaccine safety, as well as devise communication strategies that will improve understanding of the reasons behind low vaccination uptake in certain population groups.
“I am delighted to be working with the authorities in Romania and key stakeholders to tackle the serious issue of low COVID-19 vaccine uptake in the country. An urgent priority is to boost vaccination among vulnerable groups, reduce the risk of hospitalization and death, and relieve pressure on the health system,” said Dr Papowitz.
Follow all measures to limit the spread of the virus
Vaccination against COVID-19 should be combined with measures to help prevent the spread of the virus, including regular handwashing, physical distancing, ventilating indoor spaces and mask-wearing.
Since the start of the pandemic, WHO has provided extensive support to Romania. This includes offering technical assistance to strengthen national response capacities, developing social research studies and data collation to inform actions, and sharing key information with national stakeholders and the general public. WHO has supported the country to reduce the impact of the pandemic on essential health services, facilitated medical research (the Solidarity trial, UNITY studies, a sero-epidemiological study) and provided critical medical supplies.