The first drive-through COVID-19 vaccination site in Romania opened on Saturday in the central Transylvanian city of Déva (Deva), the hotnews.ro news portal reported.
The COVID-19 vaccination point was set up in the parking lot of the Déva Shopping Mall and is open between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily; it does not require any registration in advance nor a booking on the online platform.
According to the information provided by the Ministry of Health, people are allowed to arrive at the vaccination site in a five-seater personal car, taxi or similar vehicle. Upon arrival at the drive-through, people must present a valid identity card and fill out the necessary documents (health assessment questionnaire, statement of consent). People can download all paperwork from the Public Health Directorate (DSP) website and fill it out prior to arrival. The vaccination point welcomes all, regardless of their place of residence.
The drive-through offers the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine and can vaccinate around 500 people a day, the Hunyad (Hunedoara) prefect’s office announced.
On Saturday morning, dozens of cars lined up at the site, some even a few hours before the vaccination point opened, Hotnews.ro reported; some also came from neighboring counties. In the first two hours after opening, the center vaccinated more than 200 people.
All stages of the vaccination process – from triage to post-vaccination monitoring – are managed without people getting out of their vehicles, the news portal noted.
The coordinator of the Déva drive-through, Dr. Ştefan Repede, said that over 1,240 people showed up in the first two days, the stirileprotv.ro news site reported on Monday. As the doctor noted, quite a few people arrived by taxi, others by motorcycle, while some even walked to the site.
As in any other vaccination center, those vaccinated have to wait 15 minutes for doctors to make sure they do not develop serious side effects. The medical staff of the center moves from one car to the next to check the state of everyone who has received the jab.
On Monday, a second drive-through vaccination site opened in the city of Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca) as well. These drive-through points are being set up in an effort to boost the immunization of the population, as the vaccination campaign seemed to have slowed down in the past week.
Title image: People remain in their vehicles throughout all stages of the vaccination process
Source: Instituţia Prefectului – Judeţul Hunedoara/Facebook
