Filenews 4 November 2021 - by Marilena Panagi
The need for a redesign of the measures implemented for the management of the pandemic, stressed in statements to the "F" the head of the Advisory Scientific Committee, Konstantinos Tsioutis, underlining that "the time has come to correctly "read" our indications and data and to do everything possible to enter the winter as safely as possible", restoring its position for targeted checks on vaccinated people in specific areas, depending on the level of risk.
On his part, the infectious disease specialist and member of the S.A.C., Kostas Constantinou, in his statements to cyBC, pointed out that "unfortunately, there was a period when we had a relatively small number of cases and we had decided on our own that the pandemic is over and now we are seeing the results", stressing that "we are already seeing that the protection that is being developed by vaccines is eroding, little by little; for some at 6, for some at 8 months - it starts to decrease."
The TEU is meeting today with the aim of assessing the epidemiological data as they have been developed over the last ten days and deciding whether it is necessary to make recommendations to adjust the measures and restrictions that are now in force.
On his part, the Minister of Health, Michalis Hadjipantelas, is expected to put before the Council of Ministers today a proposal to extend the validity of the existing measures until December 2nd and to extend the booster vaccination, i.e. the administration of a third dose to people over 50 years of age and to people who have severe obesity.
However, as regards the reduction of the age limit for the third tranche, information from "F" indicates that the relevant question was put before the members of the TEU yesterday morning with a timetable to respond by 2 p.m. Their answers were given by nine members with six in favour and three expressing their reservations. One of the arguments of those who voted against, the fact that people between the ages of 50 and 59, are six months old from their full vaccination, at the earliest at the end of November.
However, the head of the TEU, presented himself quite strongly in his statements to "F", conveying the concern of scientists for the continuation. Expressing his personal views, he said that "this is the first time that the practices we follow have stagnated for almost six months" and added that "it is now necessary to accept that we need to review the measure that only the unvaccinated to carry out rapid screening tests every 72 hours since both the vaccinated and infected and transmitted and therefore we must ensure that somehow these people are also checked, both for their own protection and for the protection of those around them."
"If we assume that 82% of the vaccination coverage is real, then if we have 100 people in a room it means that, 18 have been tested and it is negative and the remaining 82 are vaccinated but, although it is a given that they may transmit the virus if they are stuck, they have not been tested so they do not know," he said and wondered "how much security there is for everyone in such a case."
The goal at the moment, said Mr. Tsioutis, "should not be to chase the 18% of the population which remains unvaccinated as this percentage will not change its attitude unless some things change". On the contrary, he added, "the aim of the vaccination program should be at this time to continuously study the effectiveness of vaccines and to control the course of the booster dose."
"Evaluate the other tools"
Vaccination, he stressed, "is a tool, perhaps the most basic in dealing with the coronavirus, but it is not the only weapon. At the same time, we do not know how effective it is and how long the immunity it creates will last. Therefore, we need to evaluate the other tools at our disposal that are complementary such as rapid tests, distancing, masks, etc."
Concluding, Mr. Tsioutis made it clear that "under no circumstances should the vaccination of children be used as a 'means of pressure' to increase vaccination coverage or to say that children are responsible for any outbreak of cases".
"Don't wait to see deaths to make decisions"
The deterioration of the situation "was something we expected and something we had warned about", said the member of the TEU, Kostas Constantinou, adding that "this deterioration is observed in all EU countries with some variations depending on the vaccination coverage". At the moment, he said, "we do not have a particular burden on the health system but we are seeing an increase in the number of hospitalized patients. If we have to worry? Yes, we should be worried", because, as he explained, "I think one of the main reasons for the new outbreak is the fact that for a long period when we had low cases while the measures were never gone, we had decided for ourselves that the pandemic was gone and now we are seeing the results."
"A second factor, which may contribute to the outbreak, will be the reduction of immunity in most of our population that has been vaccinated. Some after 6 months, some after 8 months will start losing their immunity and we don't need to start seeing hospitalizations and deaths again to make the decision that we need to be careful. Let's not forget that there is also a percentage of 20% of those over 18 who have chosen not to be vaccinated."
