Health Minister Alexandru Rafila said there are still 8 million doses of vaccine in Romania’s warehouses that “nobody wants to get even for free” and that some of them will expire in the next period and Romania will have to pay for them. destruction.

Rafila claims that she is waiting for a response from the European level to the request of Romania and other countries to reduce the number of delivered doses.

“We achieved something important at the beginning of 2022, when we were able to sell 7.5 million doses, we saved about 150 million euros, we sold at the same price at which we bought them. Later we took several steps, one of them was publicly, referring to the letter I addressed to the 10 member states of the European Union, including Romania, so that the doses that still have to come out of the contract for 2022, respectively for 2023, are significantly reduced, so let’s not throw away vaccines,” said Alexandru Rafila on Wednesday evening on Antena 3, News.ro reports.

Rafila explained that Romania signed an agreement to purchase “a huge amount of vaccines, almost 40 million doses” in May 2021 for the years 2022 and 2023.

“Regardless of what campaigns we will conduct, informational, educational, whatever you want, this amount cannot be mastered, and then we take measures to protect public money, we are waiting for an answer, I am optimistic,” the minister added.

Rafila emphasized that, from his point of view, in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is not restrictions that are needed, but the need to provide medical services.