US donates 500,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses to Moldova

Moldova is set to receive half a million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine from the United States to help the small nation combat the coronavirus pandemic.

The first 150,000 doses of J&J are to arrive in Moldova — a country of 3.5 million, Europe's poorest sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine — on July 12, the US Embassy officials in Moldova said.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu thanked the U.S. for the vaccines and said that they will ''help save lives, preserve the health of our citizens and reduce the force of the pandemic." "Now, we must mobilise ourselves and, in solidarity, get vaccinated," Sandu, a former World Bank official, wrote online.

The announcement came days ahead of an early) the parliamentary election in Moldova that pits pro-Western reformists against a Russia-friendly bloc of Socialists and Communists, with recent polls giving a lead to the former.

"This donation could not come at a more important time," the US Embassy in Moldova said in a statement. "The U.S. remains Moldova's steadfast partner in combating the COVID-19 pandemic and saving Moldovan lives." Only 305,000 people in Moldova have been fully inoculated against COVID-19, around just 11 per cent of the population.

The embassy said the US has so far donated more than USD 4 million (€3.3 million) of COVID-19 related assistance to Moldova, including equipment and staff training. Neighbouring Romania has also donated more than 400,000 AstraZeneca vaccines to Moldova.

Moldova has reported more than 257,000 coronavirus infections and 6,207 deaths.