HlthMin Mihaila: We want to encourage family physicians, officials, priests to get involved in vaccination

Health Minister Ioana Mihaila said on Friday in Petresti, Dambovita County, that in order to ramp up COVID-19 mass vaccination in the countryside, the Health Ministry is considering encouraging the involvement of family physicians, local administrations and priests, agerpres reports.

Moreover, the minister said, an ordinance is underway to allow family physicians to receive extra money for home vaccination.

"We want to encourage family physicians, local administrations and priests, those who are closer to people in rural areas, to go a bit further and encourage people in the countryside to get vaccinated. In addition, we are working on an ordinance to increase the fees to family physicians for the vaccination service offered at patient's home, whether the patient is an elderly, bed-ridden or hard to move in order to facilitate vaccination at home. Also for chronically-ill patients we will start vaccination in specialist outpatient clinics, precisely to better target those people who are at the highest risk of contracting and developing complications in case of a coronavirus infection. Those are the measures that the Ministry of Health is developing. Together with the National COVID-19 Vaccination Coordination Committee (CNCAV) we participate in vaccination caravans, part of the project 'The town vaccinates the village," said Mihaila.

"It is essential to increase access to vaccination, for vaccination to be an easy readily available option, in order not to have to make efforts to get vaccinated. Where there are no vaccination centres, we set up mobile crews," said CNCAV Deputy Chairman Andrei Baciu.

Mihaila and European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides visited on Friday at Petresti the mobile COVID-19 mass vaccination centre located inside the local Cultural Centre.