Awash in Covid Vaccines, Romania Faces Storage Headache

(Bloomberg) -- Romania is struggling to find storage for millions of Covid vaccine doses it hasn’t used, even as more are slated to arrive this year.

More than two years into the pandemic, the country remains one of the European Union’s least vaccinated. Now the government is asking the EU for help and trying to sell or donate doses from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. to resolve a storage headache that’s set to worsen while avoiding wasting the shots. 

About 6.5 million doses delivered in January and February have been sold to Germany and Hungary, but another 39 million are scheduled to arrive this year and next, according to Health Minister Alexandru Rafila. One country was offered 1.1 million doses for free and has “yet to show interest in picking them up.” 

“We have millions of doses still to be delivered and we don’t have the capacity to store them,” Rafila told reporters in Bucharest on Tuesday. “We’re trying to find a solution.”

The Pfizer and Moderna shots have particularly stringent storage requirements, because they must be kept in special deep-freezers. Romania is also set to receive vaccines from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca Plc, whose jabs only require regular fridge temperatures. 

As the pandemic subsides and many countries lift restrictions, the demand for vaccines is dropping. Romania has discussed the problem with the European Commission, according to Rafila. Poland this week has refused to pay for additional doses after failed attempts to renegotiate its supply contract with the EU’s executive arm and drugmakers. 

With only 42% of its population vaccinated against Covid-19, Romania ranks well below the world average. “It’s a pity to destroy this symbol of prevention,” Minister Rafila said. “And we can’t ignore the fact that the state has to pay large amounts of money for it.” 

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