After a meeting with government officials on managing the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic, President Klaus Iohannis said that vaccination is the only solution to halt the pandemic, insisting on the need for restrictions that will take effect next Monday, Spotmedia reported. He asserted the government makes a decision on the measures no later than Friday. “Dear Romanians, if you want to end this pandemic, get vaccinated, if you don’t want to end up in hospital or intensive care, get vaccinated”, Iohannis said. On Friday afternoon authorities issued new sweeping measures, which include school closures, a curfew for unvaccinated people and a ban on sporting competitions and wedding and christening parties.

Iohannis and the Cîțu government have been criticised for being too optimistic about the impact of the vaccination campaign even when in June it had already become clear that after the initial surge, vaccinations were lagging far behind most other EU countries. But with the introduction of the corona certificate requirement last month — and presumable the panic around the high number of hospitalisations and deaths — the campaign is picking up speed again. A record 128,014 jabs were administered on Friday, of which 86,385 first doses, according to CNCAV, the national vaccination coordinating body. The vaccination marathon is also returning to Bucharest this weekend, reports Romania Insider.
 

Number of vaccine doses administered to adults (18+) in Romania as of 2021-10-22

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Source: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)