Filenews 18 June 2021 - by Marilena Panagi
To stop talking about herd immunity and percentages, stress in "F" the scientific advisor of the Ministry of Health for vaccine issues, Christos Petrou and the head of the Scientific Advisory Committee, Konstantinos Tsioutis, explaining that the pandemic and the crownvirus will not disappear once "a magical percentage" of vaccination coverage of the population of Cyprus is recorded.
They point out that what we "only have to take for granted is that the larger the percentage of the population fully vaccinated (with both doses) the better" and recall the unpredictability of the pandemic, such as continuous mutations of the virus, such as the Indian mutation or "Delta" mutation as it has been called, which at the moment has "frozen" the de-escalation programmes of restrictive measures in some countries.
At the same time, the Ministry of Health admits that Cypriot citizens' interest in vaccination has decreased significantly and is sounding the alarm, however, considering it satisfactory that by the end of the month 65% of the population will have been vaccinated with the first dose of the vaccine (with the percentage of people who will be fully vaccinated being much smaller).
"He is concerned that people aged 20-30 years have not been vaccinated to the extent that they should be," Deputy Director of Medical Services Olga Kalakuta said in a statement, appealing to young people "to arrange their vaccination appointment as soon as possible." He also said that now, the health ministry's goal is to have a large proportion of the population vaccinated before the end of the summer "so that we can be protected if a new wave of the pandemic occurs."
Strong in his statements regarding the "immunity of the herd", was the head of the EES, Konstantinos Tsioutis, stressing that "there should be no discussion about the rate of vaccination coverage or the rate of immunity of the herd, precisely because we do not know what this percentage is, whether we will reach it, when we will reach it and what the actual result will be".
The pandemic, "not only has not disappeared, but continues to have flare-ups due to the Indian strain, in many parts of the world," he said, adding: "We see what is happening with the Indian strain in parts of the UK and what happened in China. In Cyprus, we must take for granted that this strain exists in the community. It has already been identified, in a small number, but initially the British strain in a small number has been identified and managed within two months to prevail".
Fortunately, he said, "the vaccines available to us seem to cover this strain of the virus at a very good rate" and referred to a recent report by the British Public Health Organisation, according to which, "with two doses of Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines, the coverage in the Indian strain is over 90%. That is, someone with a single dose of the vaccine may not be protected enough and can more easily be infected, transmit the virus or even become sick."
Stopping transmission reduces mutations
So, "what we need to do is reduce transmission so that the virus doesn't have a chance to reproduce and mutate. Vaccination is one of the ways to do that. The lower the transmission, the lower the chances of new mutations," said the head of the EES, Konstantinos Tsitis, explaining: "Mutations are created because the virus reproduces. This is also the purpose of the virus, to reproduce, in order to preserve it. Some of these mutations are more "successful" and make the virus survive better and infect more. The more infected, the more the chances and chances of the virus mutating increase. Because it is often reported that the "pressure" from vaccines leads to mutations, vaccines do the exact opposite, i.e. they cause immunity. So since one's immunity is effective and not infected with the virus, it is protected and at the same time reduces the chances of the virus mutating."
The statement of the scientific advisor of the Ministry of Health on vaccination issues for the crown, Christos Petrou, was clear, "the pandemic will not end simply one day when we learn that 70% of the population of our microcosm will have been vaccinated. Most of the planet should have been vaccinated, a large social shield developed," he said, stressing that the goal is "to stop transmission, to reduce mutations."
63% vaccinated or intend to be vaccinated
The latest Eurobarometer survey carried out at the end of May shows that three quarters of the EU population (75%) consider Covid-19 vaccines to be the only way to end the pandemic.
Almost seven out of ten respondents (69%) said they would like to see a increase in the commission's work. have already been vaccinated or want to be vaccinated as soon as possible and 79% intend to be vaccinated by the end of the year. In Cyprus, 63% say they have already been vaccinated or will do so as soon as possible, 9% will do so sometime later in 2021, 8% later and 13% say they will never do so. In Greece, 59% say they have already been vaccinated or will do so as soon as possible, 14% will do so sometime later in 2021, 11% later and 12% say they will never do so.
However, there are significant differences between Member States and depending on the age of the respondents, with those under 45 showing more hesitation. Views on how national governments have handled this strategy are slightly more critical (46% satisfied, 49% dissatisfied).
