The COVID-19 pandemic continues to be a major public health problem in most countries of the world, especially in developing countries with an underfunded healthcare system. We aim to present a comparative profile of the epidemiological characteristics of the COVID-19 pandemic in Romania and neighboring countries, which have similar onset and a similar socio-cultural pattern. A descriptive comparative study was performed using COVID-19 data collected from various official websites regarding demography, morbidity, mortality, vaccination, and testing capacity. The countries included in the study were Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Republic of Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine. The study period was from week 09/2020 to week 46/2021. Overall, these countries have reported 8,382,441 cases and 216,014 deaths (during the study period). The highest cumulative incidence rate of cases has been recorded in Serbia (17,801.5) and the highest mortality rate has been recorded in Bulgaria (391.0). Romania is in fourth place regarding the cumulative incidence rate of cases/100,000 inhabitants but in third place regarding the mortality due to COVID-19 (case–fatality rate of 3.1%). Although the World Health Organization and EU co-ordinate the COVID-19 response, each state makes its own decisions regarding SARS-CoV-2 mitigation measures, the epidemiological indicators directing us about the effectiveness of responses.

In Romania, health and social workers were prioritized for COVID-19 vaccination. We aimed to describe the vaccine adverse events identified through an active survey (using an electronic questionnaire) conducted among the staff of a pediatric hospital from Bucharest, vaccinated with the mRNA Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Data on the frequency and duration of adverse events were collected and analyzed using Microsoft Excel, Epi Info, and MedCalc. The questionnaire was sent to 426 persons. The participation rate was 81.2% after 1st dose and 63.8% after the 2nd dose. Overall, 81.9% were women, median age 42 (IQR 32–50 years). A total of 48 respondents (14.8%) reported no adverse event after the 1st dose and 35 (14.1) after the 2nd dose. No anaphylaxis was reported. The most frequent adverse event was pain at injection site, being reported by 261 responders (80.3%) after 1st dose and 187 (75.1%) after 2nd dose. Fatigue and headache were reported significantly less frequently in our study compared with data provided by the vaccine manufacturer. The current study has shown higher local reactogenicity after the first dose of the vaccine and higher systemic reactogenicity after the second dose. This real-world knowledge of the reactogenicity and safety profile may increase the vaccine’s acceptance rate among healthcare workers.