Territorial characteristics of the vaccination process in Romania. evidence at a local level

ABSTRACT

In the context of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic crisis, declared by the World Health Organization in March, 2020, a sustainable and permanent solution was the development of an efficacious and safe vaccine against the virus. This study aims to be a picture of the vaccination process (VP), performed at the end of February, 2021, on the subject of the population at risk - e.g the elderly (one category of persons targeted by the second stage of VP). The present paper aims to analyze several geographic features of the VP in Romania, such as (i) the territorial distribution of vaccination centers (VCs);(ii) their capacity to cover the potential needs of the local population in terms of the anti-COVID-19 vaccination;(iii) the spatial itineraries induced to the elderly population by the overly-busy VCs;(iv) the effect of a VC on local economy, especially in rural settlements and small towns. The used research methods are of a qualitative and quantitative nature (e.g. official statistical public documents analyses, interviews) and the analysis is performed at the lowest territorial level at which statistical data are available, namely the Local Administrative Units (LAU). The main conclusion is that the topic of the VC's geographic position should be studied on a local scale, for that the VP to have a positive impact on population, wherever it may be.