BUCHAREST, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Romanian vaccination coordination authority decided on Friday to postpone the vaccination for more than 60,000 people by half a month to ensure that those who need the booster during this period have enough vaccines, as the vaccine supply failed to follow the schedule.
Thus, as many as 66,884 people under the age of 65 who should have received a first dose of the vaccine between Jan. 30 and Feb. 11 will be rescheduled to Feb. 16 and later.
People over the age of 65 remain at the initial appointment, said the National Committee for Coordination of Vaccination Activities against COVID-19 (CNCAV) in a press statement.
The decision was taken "as a safety measure," said the CNCAV, explaining that the vaccination plan has been affected partly due to the decrease in the quantities of vaccine previously delivered by Pfizer/BioNTech, as well as the lack of predictability regarding the vaccine tranches delivered by Moderna for February and March.
As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, vaccination is underway in some countries with the already-authorized coronavirus vaccines.
Romania started its first phase of the vaccination campaign on Dec. 27, and so far, 554,924 people have been vaccinated in the eastern European country. Of them, 462,848 received their first dose and 92,076 received their second doses as well.
Meanwhile, 236 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide -- 63 of them in clinical trials -- in countries including Germany, China, Russia, Britain and the United States, according to information released by the World Health Organization on Jan. 26. Enditem
