Let us vaccinate ourselves with the third dose and do not fall into hysteria related to the Omikron variant – Prof. Piotr Kuna, head of the XNUMXnd Department of Internal Medicine, Medical University in Łódź. The last thing to do, he added, is to create disastrous fear in people.
Tomasz Więcławski, PAP: Professor, for two days we have been observing strong emotions in many media messages regarding the new variant of the SARS-COV-2 virus called Omikron. Should we realistically fear whether we are hitting too strong tones again during this epidemic, which are not adequate to the level of threat?
Prof. Piotr Kuna: In my opinion, hysteria results from ignorance. The new variant does indeed have more mutations than the existing ones. But we don’t really know at this point whether it will be more contagious, or whether it will be heavier or milder. I just want to point out that the new variant comes from Africa. It must have been there for some time, and only now has it been detected. However, if you look at the number of SARS-CoV-2 virus infections on this continent, as well as the number of deaths caused by COVID-19, it is much lower than in Europe. It’s puzzling.
The second thing – the level of vaccination of societies there is very low. Of course, it can be said that the number of cases of infections is low, because patients are not examined, but we do not observe an increase in the objective indicator – the number of deaths. Either that population passes the disease much milder, or simply the African variants are mild.
I remember when we were threatened about half a year ago with the South African variant. He was supposed to be the most dangerous and the worst, yet he hardly spread around the world. At the moment, 99,5 percent of infections are the Indian Delta variant. Just on the basis of the information that this new variant had more mutations, panic was triggered once again.
Further part under the video.
We have scientific simulations on how SARS-CoV-2 could mutate further?
There are publications from “Nature” on the study of artificial SARS-CoV-2 mutations. All possible mutations that you can imagine were put into these studies so as to make this virus – in a laboratory manner – the worst it can be. And what came out? The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are also effective against such mutations – the most sophisticated, the most complicated and the most dangerous.
Remember, however, that in real life, the effectiveness of vaccines is always slightly lower than in clinical trials, because specific patient cohorts are selected for them. And in the population as a whole, the diversity of people is greater. People have different immune systems, different comorbidities, so research can never be translated 1 to 1 into real life.
What should we do in this current situation? Take the third dose of the vaccine as soon as possible. Even before Christmas, while this variant is not available to us and it is not attacking.
Of course, this will be a bit of a theoretical question, but could Omicron turn out to be more infectious and oust Delta, but less virulent and therefore less dangerous to the world’s population?
It can be like that. In general with viral diseases, it is usually the case that the subsequent variants are more infectious, but usually also milder. We also never know what the next mutation will be. In Japan, SARS-COV-2 mutated in such a direction that the Delta virus died because it could no longer replicate. A virus is information, not a living particle. You journalists know perfectly well what happens with information along the way, how it can be modified and changed. So let’s not raise the drum again and let’s not create hysteria when we have little information.
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Or is it that all opinion makers should think a little longer before saying exciting things that make people feel fearful and threatening? This fear may have irreversible consequences for our public health for years.
I share this opinion. It is high time to start preparing for the thought that this virus will become a seasonal respiratory infection virus. Yes, not to be sensational, but to treat it in the same way as the flu virus. The sooner this happens, the better for us. Vaccines allow us to bring this virus down to a level that is not dangerous for the vast majority of the population of colds. We will not eliminate these colds with vaccines, but with their help, as well as available medications, we can control COVID-19 without any problems.
The interview was by Tomasz Więcławski / PAP
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