Iohannis: A lot of people want to get vaccinated; many centres to operate soon

President Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday, after visiting a vaccination centre at the Romexpo Exhibition Halls in Bucharest that was about to get operational, that many people want to be vaccinated against COVID-19, announcing that very many vaccination centres nationwide will start operating soon, according to AGERPRES.

"I am very happy to see that the atmosphere is generally changing and a lot of people want to be vaccinated. It is a change that I explicitly welcome, a change in attitude and, as more and more doses will come in the coming weeks and months, more and more people will actually benefit from the vaccination service," said the head of state.

He said that at the Romexpo COVID-19 vaccination centre, which will start operating this week, 3,000-4,000 people a day could be vaccinated.

"Already this week, the centre is actually starting, as many centres across the country are starting to operate these days. Their degree, capacity will increase, as more and more doses of vaccine will come and we all hope to have enough vaccinated people by the summer to end this pandemic," Iohannis said.

He added that in addition to vaccination, the imposed measures must be strictly observed.

"On this occasion, I would like to draw the public's attention that vaccination alone does not solve the pandemic. Until we have many vaccinated people, we need to strictly observe all the measures imposed. We all want to return to a normal life as soon as possible, but that is possible if, on the one hand, we follow the restrictions, and on the other hand, a large part - 60-70% of the population - must be vaccinated and then, if we do things right, we may return to a normal life this summer," Iohannis said.

Also in attendance at the Romexpo vaccination centre were Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu, Bucharest District 1 Mayor Clotilde Armand, Bucharest Prefect Traian Berbeceanu, and coordinator of the national vaccination campaign Valeriu Gheorghita.

The Bucharest City Emergency Management Committee (CMBSU) approved at an extraordinary meeting on Monday repurposing 12 locations into COVID-19 vaccination centres. Among them is the Romexpo Exhibition Centre - with 12 centres and 64 vaccination points.

President Iohannis previously visited the Romexpo vaccination centre early last December.