Moldova is suffering two epidemics – flu and fear, Oleg Benes

Doctors in Moldova are concerned with the small number of people that have received anti-flu vaccines, which is due to either inadequate information or fear. While continuing to encourage people to get those shots, doctors find them to be as reluctant as they were when the vaccination campaign started one month ago. People must hurry because a new mass outbreak is expected in February, specialists warned at Friday's meeting of the National Healthcare Extraordinary Commission, Info-Prim Neo reports. Health minister Vladimir Hotineanu told that the number of immunized people as of January 15 was around 54,000, which means only 36 percent of the available vaccines. According to the minister, a Romanian institute is now testing a vaccine that could soon be administered to persons younger than 16. The Commission specialists have warned that some materials published in the press about the alleged inefficiency of the anti-flu vaccine are putting the public health in peril. “After administering the vaccine to over 50,000 citizens, there wasn't a single case of side effects”, says Hotineanu. Oleg Benes, the director of the National Center for Preventive Medicine said that Moldova is suffering two epidemics – flu and fear. Benes urged the population to get the shot, “because the vaccine costs less than treatment”. From the beginning of 2010, flu killed 10 people in Moldova.