Filenews 21 October 2021 - by Marilena Panagi
Only 13% of citizens over the age of 60 who are entitled to receive the third dose of coronavirus vaccine had proceeded with their booster vaccination by last Monday, while data from the Vaccination Portal do not give any optimistic messages as only a few hundred new appointments are arranged every day.
At the same time, however, in intensive care units, the percentage of vaccinated people admitted shows a gradual and slow but steady increase in the last two weeks, while in the common hospital wards the data reflect the situation, even in the relatively small number of people currently hospitalized with coronavirus.
Scientists are worried and warn, reiterating the need to readjust measures and tactics, since beyond any doubt, vaccination alone is not an absolute shield of protection. The health ministry is sending mobile vaccination units to mountain communities, although as we are informed the messages it has already received from the countryside are rather discouraging, while the health minister in his statements yesterday said that "if the experts make us recommend for tests and on vaccinated people, we will examine it at the right time".
For this reason, and according to the official data of the CySEC, last Tuesday, for example, the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients in the ICU was 12 (plus one person who ceased to be contagious). Of the 12 patients, five were fully vaccinated people and their median age was 71.6 years as they were people from 67 to 82 years of age. At the same time and always according to the data of state hospitals, in the common wards daily the percentage of fully vaccinated coronavirus patients ranges from 35%-40% with the median age being 64 years.
With the percentage of vaccinated people in ICU and common wards presenting this picture, the data from the booster vaccinations performed daily are rather disappointing.
Specifically, based on the population data of 2019, the number of citizens belonging to the age group of 60 years and older, is 194,673. With both doses of the vaccine, 184,912 have been vaccinated. However, the third dose of the vaccine received, as of last Tuesday, 24,940 people plus a few more thousand elderly people living in nursing homes.
In detail, from the day the booster vaccination began until Tuesday, 32,176 people had received the third dose of the vaccine. Of these, 1495 were employees of the CySEC, 93 in private hospitals, 1009 other health professionals, 1909 people who belonged to the vulnerable groups of the population and 2730 were residents and workers in nursing homes. The remaining 24,940 received the third dose based on their age.
Nor do the data recorded on the Vaccination Portal cause any optimism. On Tuesday, the first day on which all people over the age of 60 were entitled to arrange an appointment for a third dose, there was interest from only 324 citizens. (On the same day, 164 people of all ages were also accommodated for the first dose). Similar was the picture in the previous days since in total from October 15 to the 19th of the month only 1,144 appointments were arranged (for the first instalment, 844 appointments were scheduled during this five-day period).
"The data we see today show us that the vaccinated have not understood the degree of risk and as a State, we have not yet managed to adapt to the new phase of the pandemic," the head of the Advisory Scientific Committee, Konstantinos Tsioutis, said while speaking to "F", adding that "we cannot stick to tactics we followed six months ago or a year ago. We need to revise, analyze the new data and not risk once again letting events catch up with us, instead of trying to catch up with the events ourselves."
A state, he added, "cannot be considered protected when half the world - including countries in our 'neighbourhood' but also in the EU - continues to go through a severe wave of a pandemic. It is this ignorance of reality and potential risks that has turned Europe into the epicentre of the pandemic just two months after the first incidents in China."
Vaccinations, he reiterated, "are proven to protect greatly from severe disease. What the majority of authorities around the world have failed to do, however, is to apply public health practices on the basis of scientific data. The vaccinated person is protected but not free from any danger. As long as there is transmission, either from/to vaccinated people, or from/to unvaccinated, no one can be considered safe", and concluding he stressed that "citizens are not obliged to understand the data in their entirety, but the state and the scientific community must do everything they can to give them the real picture of things and protect them".
When asked whether the scientists who had expressed a few weeks ago the view that it might be more appropriate to apply a program of laboratory tests to those vaccinated in some places based on the level of risk, Mr. Tsioutis said that "the suggestions are already before the Minister but when they were made they were probably not accepted by several members of the TEU".
It is reported that in his statements yesterday, the Minister of Health Michalis Hadjipantelas, when asked about whether there are any thoughts about testing and vaccinated people replied that, "vaccinated people can have whenever they want tests free of charge through the programs of the Ministry of Health. As you can see there is an increased number of tests and this increased number is because they are being tested and vaccinated." "Now," concluded Mr. Chatzipandelas, "if there is a recommendation from the experts for testing vaccinated people, it is an issue that we will examine at the right time."
It sends mobile units to the mountains of the ministry. Health
Despite the reduced interest that is now clearly recorded by citizens for vaccination and at a time when the rate of vaccination coverage has already reached 82% (with one dose), the Ministry of Health is intensifying its efforts by sending mobile vaccination units to mountain communities.
As announced yesterday, mobile vaccination units will be located on Saturday at the Evrychou Health Center ( 8-10:30 a.m.) and at the office of the Commissioner for the Development of Mountainous Areas, in Trimiklini, (11:30 a.m.-2 p.m.).
The mobile units will serve:
► People, aged 12 years and over, who have not yet been vaccinated against COVID-19 (administration of 1st dose).
► People, aged 12 years and over, who have received the 1st dose of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine and the three-week period required for the 2nd dose and the completion of their vaccination regimen (administration of the 2nd dose) has elapsed.
As far as vaccination with a booster/ 3rd dose is concerned, people aged 60 years and over will be served, provided that a period of six months has necessarily elapsed since their vaccination with the 2nd dose.
