This is not the end of the fourth wave of coronavirus pandemic, the chairman of Romania's National COVID-19 Vaccination Coordination Committee (CNCAV), Valeriu Gheorghita, said on Tuesday, during a press conference at Victoria Palace, estimating that the return to school could generate an increase of SARS-CoV-2 infections.
According to the military doctor, the infection risk could also go up in the context of the cold season, because people will have the tendency to stay indoors more, without frequently airing out the rooms.
Valeriu Gheorghita highlighted that the message according to which the fourth pandemic wave "is being resolved" should not be promoted.
"I believe that the epidemiological situation tends to become stable, but this is in no case the end of the fourth wave. We would have wanted this to happen, but we are also looking at what is going on in Europe and we see that there are already many countries that are registering an important increase in the number of cases. The problem is that in the countries with a high vaccination coverage, the pandemic no longer has any significant impact. Meaning the number of serious cases, admission to ICUs and casualties do not go up at the same time. They remain at a stable value, a reduced value and are generally the appanage of people who were not vaccinated or vaccinated people that have an advanced age, who also have a lot of associated chronic conditions," the head of CNCAV declared.
Valeriu Gheorghita mentioned that the booster shot is necessary, in the context in which over 35-40% of infections in vaccinated people appear after the fifth month of completing the full scheme of immunization.
"This is why we have the threshold of 6 months from where we are firmly recommending the booster shot," he said.