Scientists from the Polish Academy of Sciences: the lives of seniors must be saved by offering them the third dose of vaccination

Is an additional dose of the COVID-19 vaccine necessary? The answers to this question were provided by scientists from the interdisciplinary COVID-19 Advisory Team at the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences. – Without a doubt, over time, humanity will win the battle with SARS-CoV-2, but we all have to make every effort to ensure that it is done at the lowest possible cost. Therefore, it is recommended to save the lives of seniors by offering them a third dose of vaccination – they write in the latest post.

1. It is worth encouraging your relatives, friends or charges at risk to take an additional, third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine – write scientists from the COVID-19 Advisory Team at the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences 
2. The most likely scenario assumes the emergence of new waves of morbidity and deaths, they emphasize
3. The head of the team is the president of the Polish Academy of Sciences, prof. Jerzy Duszyński, and its members include prof. Krzysztof Pyrć, Dr. Aneta Afelt, prof. Andrzej Rychard and dr hab. Tomasz Smiatacz
4. More information can be found on the Onet homepage

Additional vaccinations started in September

The campaign of additional vaccination against COVID-19 started in Poland on September 1. Initially, it affected “immunocompromised persons”, in this case the dose is mentioned “supplementary«. The Ministry of Health, following the recommendation of the Medical Council, has published a detailed list of conditions for which the immune system does not function satisfactorily, which means that resistance to SARS-CoV-2 infection is severely limited.

1. How to sign up for a third dose of COVID-19 vaccine? [WE EXPLAIN]

On September 21, the government expanded the group of people who can accept a third (in this case «Resembling») the dose of the vaccine. Vaccinations covered people who have direct contact with patients, i.e. health care workers, and all people aged 50 and over, regardless of whether they have chronic diseases or not.

Virus more contagious than expected

Now, scientists from the interdisciplinary COVID-19 Advisory Team at the President of the Polish Academy of Sciences wrote about the need to administer an additional dose of the vaccine to those most in need.

They point out that the Delta variant is more infectious than the previous Alpha, so for safety it is necessary to vaccinate a larger group of people than previously thought.

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“In winter, the world faced a pandemic wave caused by the Alpha variant, while at the turn of spring and summer, a new variant – B1.617.2 called Delta – became responsible for almost 100% of cases of disease. Delta is distinguished by increased infectivity. In 2020, an infected person transmitted the virus to an average of 2-4 people; a person infected with the Delta variant infects 4-8 people. In this way, the virus significantly increased the population immunity threshold, understood as a condition for extinction of COVID-19 cases: from 60-70 percent. to about 80-90 percent » – scientists write.

The rest of the text is below the video.

The authors of the position remind that a similar phenomenon of the increase in infectivity took place during the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918.

Vaccinations are working

Specialists write that vaccination against COVID-19 does not fully protect against mild or asymptomatic infection, but protects against severe illness, hospitalization and death. However, protection wears off over time, so a third dose delivery mechanism has been developed.

1. In Poland, the epidemiological situation is getting worse

«An analysis carried out in Israel showed that people over 60 years of age who received the third dose of the vaccine were eleven times less likely to contract SARS-CoV-2, and the risk of severe disease and hospitalization was almost XNUMX times lower compared to patients who received only two doses of the vaccine »- they write.

A third dose is also needed in patients with immunodeficiency. “These patients require stronger stimulation of the immune system in order to obtain comparable levels of antibodies, and therefore a third dose is recommended after just a few weeks,” reads the release.

We have to save the lives of seniors

Scientists write that the most likely scenario assumes the emergence of new waves of illnesses and deaths, and in autumn the number of infections may be as high as a year ago, but thanks to vaccinations, some of them will be milder and less likely to be fatal.

«However, as the highest-risk groups are poorly vaccinated, it is hard to expect a calm winter ahead. For this reason, it is worth encouraging your relatives, friends or people at risk to take an additional, third dose »- emphasize scientists from the COVID-19 Advisory Team.

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“In the future, however, one should take into account the slow disappearance of vaccine and post-vaccine immunity, reinfections and the need for booster vaccinations, at least in people at risk” – they add and remind about the risk of the emergence of further SARS-CoV-2 variants, including those that they can completely evade our immune system.

“There is no doubt that mankind will win the fight against SARS-CoV-2 over time, but we must all make every effort to ensure that it is done at the lowest possible cost. Therefore, it is recommended to save the lives of seniors by offering them a third dose of vaccination»- scientists are calling.

Also read:

1. COVID-19 despite vaccination – who is most at risk? A risk calculator was created
2. New rules for declaring deaths. Changes in the regulations are coming
3. BioNTech chief: a new COVID-2022 vaccine will be needed in 19
4. The fourth wave is accelerating, but Poles are not afraid of infection [SONDAŻ]

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