Moldova - defensive on all fronts in anti-Covid-19 war

Chisinau, 25 March /MOLDPRES/- For a year we have been at war with an enemy, at first sight, invisible, ruthless, treacherous and with an amazing ability to become stronger. This war has claimed more lives than all the wars since 1945. The numbers are rising, the casualties are getting younger, and the psychological and moral trauma has entered almost every family. Each of us can become the target of the invisible enemy at any moment.

In such a situation, the state, as a rule, mobilizes all resources to end this bloody war. 

Since 1990 we have been creating institutions paid from the taxpayer, we have distributed orders and medals, we have fought hard for power, we have declared integration in the east and in the west, but we have never had the opportunity to really check if we have institutions capable of managing things efficiently and meeting people's expectations. It took a relentless pandemic, which occurs once a century, to convince us how powerless we are.

In the midst of the pandemic, an almost in-corporal government is resigning, leaving us without contracts and money in the budget for vaccines, without the National Pandemic Strategy, without a National Immunization Program, without the proper involvement of law enforcement agencies in the fight against those who thwart the spread of Covid-19 through his behavior. Subsequently, some documents were embedded, but the reality and evolution of the pandemic have shown that they are largely superficial.

Everyone recognizes that vaccination is the most effective weapon against Covid-19. I have desperately asked for help from all the governments of the world. With great difficulty, after weeks of "deep investigations", the Medicines Agency authorized three types of vaccines. I received a little help, but very necessary at this stage, from Romania and through the Covax program. And, obviously, according to the program, the vaccination of the medical staff has started, those in the first line, those who have carried all the hardships of the fight against the pandemic and who deserve monuments for their sacrifice.

The impression was created that the first stock would run out in a few days. However, it is different for Moldovans. We do not yet have a unique electronic registration and scheduling program and we walk through offices with paper lists, where those who want to get vaccinated sign. In addition to the conscious majority of medical staff who were vaccinated immediately, others flatly refuse, others do not like the vaccine and, consequently, the mist of doses received is not yet fully used in almost a month !!!

For all those who understand that only rapid vaccination can save us, it seems a totally inexplicable thing how you can delay so much a program in the medical field that could be done in two weeks. And how can a doctor continue to provide medical services without being vaccinated? How can you question the need for vaccination after you have done in-depth medical studies? Why in Romania in record time 92% of medical staff were vaccinated, and we have been walking with two boxes of vaccines for almost a month and we set a bad example for other categories of the population, more than half of whom will not to be vaccinated. However, it will be the medical staff who will have to promote immunization for the next stages.

There are a few of the least developed countries on planet Earth where a good part of the medical staff do not really want to be vaccinated. There, the administration is much tougher and two solutions are suggested. The first is for the citizen to be informed which of the doctors are not vaccinated and it is the constitutional right of the citizen to protect his health and life through the choice made. And if the doctor considers that he has the right to be vaccinated or not, so do patients have the right to life, health and information. Things enshrined in the Constitution.

The state should continue to develop and implement a system to protect the citizen of Covid-19. Individual rights, which are the cornerstone of democracy, must be respected by simply informing the citizen who goes to the family doctor, dentist, barber, restaurant or taxi, that the services are provided by vaccinated people or not.

Unfortunately, today we have more questions than answers. Sooner or later we will start mass vaccination and if we want to immunize at least 70 percent of the population by next winter, exceptional organizational measures must be taken. Neighboring countries have opened thousands of vaccination centers in medical institutions and other places that offer adequate conditions. Since December, tens of thousands of resident doctors and medical students have been trained to help with the immunization campaign. Ukraine and Romania have created hundreds of mobile vaccination teams in localities where the necessary conditions are lacking. A strong campaign to promote vaccination has been going on for a few months now and the number of those eager to get immunized is constantly growing. It doesn't take much mind to take on the experience of the neighbors.

Moldova needs unprecedented mobilization in the fight against Covid-19. We are at war for life and death. He is not lost yet, but on all fronts we are retreating.