Prof. Krzysztof Simon: We cannot talk about the end of the epidemic yet

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– The political environment is responsible for the epidemiological disaster, including the gigantic scale of deaths in our country. Politicians are looking too much at the protests of anti-vaccines – says prof. Krzysztof Simon in an interview with Medonet.

1. Prof. Krzysztof Simon: – Trumpeting the end of the epidemic in the country, where 40 percent. of the population did not take the vaccine and in which only in the last six months as a country we have suffered one of the greatest losses in people, it is at least unjustified
2. The doctor says that there are still a lot of patients in covid wards, especially the elderly and the unvaccinated. It cannot yet be said that the Omicron wave in our country is over
3. Anti-vaccines are only a blatant minority, and in the face of an epidemiological catastrophe, there is nothing to rebel. In other countries, the rulers are determined and the decisions are radical – emphasizes the doctor
4. Respond before it’s too late. Get to know your Health Index!
5. You can find more about the coronavirus on the TvoiLokony home page

Edyta Brzozowska, Medonet: Adam Niedzielski, the Minister of Health, recently announced: «Behind us is the apogee of the XNUMXth wave. This turning point is confirmed in every dimension, in terms of the number of new infections, tests, orders for tests ». Do you confirm that the pandemic is giving up?

Prof. Krzysztof Simon, head of the First Infectious Ward at the Provincial Specialist Hospital J. Gromkowski in Wrocław: No, because we continue to admit COVID-19 patients, and more and more. These are mostly people of advanced age or those who have not been vaccinated. For various reasons, sometimes their relatives did not allow it! It happens that among these patients there are patients for whom vaccination was simply unsuccessful. Anyway, the XNUMXst clinical infectious ward of the Provincial Specialist Hospital of J. Gromkowski in Wrocław, which I lead, is in two-thirds occupied by coronavirus patients. Like other so-called “Registered” branches. And we certainly cannot talk about the end of the epidemic yet.

The wave of the Omikron variant is still dangerous?

Of course. Especially for the elderly, unvaccinated, but also younger, with multiple diseases, and of course also unvaccinated. In the remaining cases, infection with the Omikron variant is usually mild or even asymptomatic. These patients do not require hospitalization, so during this wave we put much less people on hospital beds. In my opinion, the COVID-19 epidemic will become permanent in our health landscape.

I believe that trumpeting the end of the epidemic in a country where 40 percent. of the population did not take the vaccine and in which only in the last six months we have suffered as a country one of the largest losses in people per 100 thousand. residents, it is at least unreasonable. This is unnecessary, typically socialist propaganda.

It has been announced that the fall in morbidity will be as much as 20 percent from week to week.

Perhaps the minister has such estimates. However, the fifth wave of the pandemic continues. On the other hand, I am glad that almost 60 percent. However, she decided to vaccinate the Poles. And vaccinations are slowly progressing, and another group of COVID-19 fell ill, and therefore acquired natural immunity. Admittedly short-lived, but still.

Those who have not vaccinated still risk their health and lives?

Of course. For seniors aged 70-80, any infection, regardless of pathogen, can turn out to be a catastrophe. Therefore, it is very disturbing that the rulers have already announced the end of the pandemic once.

Prof. Krzysztof Simon

As part of the previous Medical Council, which operated at the premiere, and which I had the pleasure to belong to, we tried to avoid such propaganda stories. Both the prime minister and the minister of health listened to our advice as doctors and medical experts. The recommendations that we recommended for the duration of the epidemic procedure were met with understanding. Primary education consisted of washing hands, wearing face masks in public places, maintaining social distancing, defining the rules of isolation and quarantine, and running a vaccination program, especially in the case of initial vaccine shortages.

Further part below the video.

Worse was with the obligation to show a vaccination certificate and with the mass vaccination program.

In Poland, it was released into the wild, especially in the period of the so-called XNUMXth wave. In my opinion, this is a consequence of the fact that neither the prime minister nor the minister of health have political clout in their political environment. It is sad. Unfortunately, the environment is responsible for this disaster – including the gigantic scale of deaths in our country. Politicians look too much at the protests of anti-vaccines. After all, they are only a loud minority, and in the face of an epidemiological catastrophe, there is nothing to rebel. In other countries, the rulers are determined and the decisions are radical – for example, in the United States, there were numerous cases where company employees did not want to vaccinate, so they were fired without discussion.

In most Western countries, but also in Asia, without a valid certificate, you will not even get into the ski gondola, not to mention other closed public places. There is a pandemic! And regardless of what the so-called defenders of freedom, administrative instructions should be unambiguous. Even at the cost of many doctors, including myself, facing threats. Including the threat of homicide. “Today you can imagine everyone with their throats slit because you will die first”. It’s about me and my family. The most interesting thing is that nobody does anything about it. Is Poland still a rule of law?

Which of the recent actions by the authorities do you consider the most unsuccessful?

An elementary mistake in the context of the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 infection was, for example, organizing a mass New Year’s Eve party in Zakopane. It is a pity that Minister Niedzielski, whom I appreciate, by the way, did not have enough political power to undermine this bizarre decision. Even so, celebrating outdoors was a bit safer than balls indoors, with crowds of people coughing and sneezing at each other. This had to be strictly forbidden. I consider the lack of any restrictions, especially since the Delta variant, to be bizarre and socially harmful.

We are rarely required to show covid passports. Should that change?

In other European countries: Switzerland, Italy, Germany, France, not to mention Australia, Taiwan or South Korea – without presenting this document, you will not enter a restaurant, cafe or shop. After all, haunted madmen do not rule there, but, regardless of the political option, wise politicians who care about the welfare of their countries. It is accepted by most of the societies of these countries. And anti-vaccination movements do not determine the activities of the authorities. In our place? Everyone goes where they want: without a certificate, without a mask, and they cannot be controlled. It’s shameful, so why is it? And the result is that we are in a tragic place in terms of COVID-19 mortality – the third in Europe, just ahead of Bulgaria. After all, these or other restrictions are not permanent, and as the vaccination program progresses, it will be possible to gradually abandon them.

What about children who are to return to school from remote learning?

There are many arguments in favor of this issue, but everyone is conflicting. I believe that children should take lessons in a stationary mode. The youngest most often do not get sick, but unfortunately they are easily infected and transmit the virus. In our care, we have small patients in the mother’s ward, unfortunately with symptomatic COVID-19 infection. They banned themselves from their children. However, they are young people, so the disease in most cases is asymptomatic or mild. But grandmothers and grandparents from the same families get very seriously ill. However, children, after two years of this covid mess, have to socialize, be with their peers, and not still sit in front of computer screens. Of course, the solution is a mass vaccination program.

Is immunization of children also failing in our country?

Still too few parents decide to do this. The sensible ones can be persuaded, and the rest come up with the wildest arguments so as not to protect their children’s lives. Here the question arises: “What about the immunization program in this situation? They will not vaccinate the children either? ». What other misfortunes await us? So if those madmen who loudly declare their patriotism followed vaccination recommendations and did not listen to the eastern media, there would not be so many problems that the pandemic brings. After all, five-year-olds are vaccinated in many countries.

Statistics show that seniors are the highest percentage of those vaccinated.

Fortunately! On the other hand, vaccinations are less effective in this group. In this context, I do not understand the announcement that masks are not required to be worn in closed rooms. I strongly disagree with that. In the open air – it is obvious, but in public transport, public transport, shops? After all, we are still at risk of 15 million cases of disease. Especially dangerous for seniors. But what should we require, since the school superintendent in Małopolska, Barbara Nowak, publicly calls vaccines an “experiment”?

A disastrous example in the matter of COVID-19 was also given by the head of PiS, Jarosław Kaczyński, a person who is informally managing the state. He officially met with anti-vaccines. Regardless of the content of the conversations, which I do not know, it has been accepted by most of the thinking society for allowing such activities. I understand that everyone makes mistakes, usually due to a lack of knowledge, but we are in the midst of a severe epidemic with enormous human and economic losses. There is no room for any political games here.

Are you comforting that there are drugs for the coronavirus?

Remdesivir, paxlovid, molnupiravir have been on the pharmaceutical market for some time, but the repertoire of new ones is still growing. They help to block the replication of the virus in people at risk of severe disease and to treat severe disease. These drugs are expensive and only partially effective.

After these two years, we got used to the pandemic.

It didn’t have to be that way. If we were a more educated, pro-Western society, we would sooner dismiss any idiocy about COVID-19 that appears on the web. After all, if everyone were vaccinated, most of the problems would be over – both social and health-related.

Unfortunately, we owe the chaos to anti-vaccines and certain political circles that blocked the implementation of rational epidemic recommendations justified by global health organizations. Coronavirus is not the first and not the last epidemic, as experts have not come up with anything new. We were only trying to adapt the rules of combating epidemics to Polish realities.

Are you and your team tired of the epidemic?

I can speak for myself. Naturally, I am now a “grandfather” because time flows inexorably. However, he is very active in the field of medicine and science. I admit that I do not feel tired but irritated more often. And sometimes rage. And this attitude is expressed by more and more compatriots. These feelings are composed of my – as a Pole and a patriot – my disagreement with the entire political situation around and inside the country. And yet a few years ago we were the leader of democratic and economic changes in Europe.

Meanwhile, we are dealing with another aggression of the heirs of the Romanov empire on the eastern border, with a conflict with the European Union that is harmful to Poland – this is about the Reconstruction Fund, which is so important for the country and its future, and therefore a lot of money. And this in many contexts: irrational insistence through the so-called politicians in the case of some pseudo-reforms in the judiciary (what is the significance of this for the needs of the state?), the Pegasus scandal and probable wiretaps of the opposition during the elections, the distribution of money earned by a hard-working society, and I am not talking about people in need or with disabilities. The scale appears to exceed the cost of a few nuclear power plants.

We have a nightmarish, even unbelievable legal mess in a well-functioning state related to the so-called Polish order – after all, someone corrects this disorder every day, accountants wring their hands. In my medical industry, we are also dealing with releasing the fourth wave of the COVID-19 epidemic practically to the element. Effect? The horrific scale of deaths. Once the communists gave us the rejection of the Marshall Plan, which brought Poland to a backward and poor colony. History repeats itself again, it smells like a betrayal of the interests of the Polish nation, it is scandalous. I am frightened by those who have the audacity to proclaim that we do not need EU money. They are objectively acting to the detriment of their own country, my country! And they make fun of us outside. Until recently, Poland was viewed with great respect, we had friends almost everywhere. And now?

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