By Amelia Lipcsei
Since the end of summer, Romania, a small European country, has reached staggering death rates due to the pandemic, with over 48,000 mortalities. Possessing one of the lowest vaccination rates, with just over a third of adults vaccinated, Romania remains in critical condition concerning citizens’ health amid the Covid crisis. Although the Romanian government has the monetary capacity to purchase vaccines, public interest in receiving the doses remains widely inadequate due to lack of information surrounding Covid-19. Dr. Adriana Pistol, who works in Romania’s Aspen Institute, reports that “the country reportedly sold 2 million vaccine doses and donated another 1 million to prevent them from expiring” (Medical News Today). With just over 13 million citizens remaining exposed to the deadly disease, the country is on the verge of yet another Covid outbreak, risking high death rates, mutations, and tremendous poverty.
All over the country, doctors beg people to get vaccinated, pleading that the only way to stop the exponential spread stems from increasing the vaccination rate. The College of Physicians of Bucharest, a medical organization, attempted to convince citizens to vaccinate themselves, stating that “Every day we witness tragedies: dying patients, suffering families, doctors who have reached the end of their powers.” Romanian hospitals stay filled to the brim with horrifically sick patients. Unfortunately, the disconnect between the government and its citizens, largely due to the country’s ignorance of the population’s needs, has left many untrusting of medical advice. As cases continue to rise in the desperate country, Romania seeks help from others; Italy has sent 5,200 doses of monoclonal antibodies, and Hungary has aided hundreds of Romanian patients. However, without increasing the vaccination rate, Romania’s hospitals will only become more and more overwhelmed, leaving the country in pure chaos.