The doctor assesses the vaccination campaign in Poland: we have failed. And he gives two main reasons

We have been hearing about the fourth wave of COVID-19 for many weeks. During this time, experts keep reminding us that we have one weapon against her and everything else – vaccinations. «To feel safe, we need to reach 85%. vaccination coverage – said recently prof. Gut. But about 50 percent are fully vaccinated. During the summer holidays, the vaccine was taken by approx. 14 percent. Poles, in Portugal – over 46 percent. What went wrong with us? “We have failed as a state and as a society”, says Bartosz Fiałek, pointing to two main reasons.

1. Experts still remind that the development of the fourth wave depends mainly on the level of vaccination of the society. To be safe, the vaccine should be adopted by 85%. Poles entitled to it
2. Currently, however, only 52 percent have done so. – 50,5 percent is after the full course of vaccination, 1,1 percent. – after the first dose
3. During the summer holidays (from June 1 to the end of August), 14 percent were vaccinated. of us, at the same time in Portugal – over 46 percent.
4. When assessing the vaccination process of Poles, Bartosz Fiałek admits: we have failed as a state and as a society. And he gives two main reasons for this state of affairs
5. More information can be found on the Onet homepage.

The fourth wave of the epidemic and vaccination against COVID-19 in Poland

– There is no question whether the fourth wave will occur, only when it reaches its apogee – said the Minister of Health recently. If the rate of growth of infections continues, the number of infections could reach a thousand within two weeks. At the peak of the wave (probably mid-November), there may be as many as 50. (pessimistic scenario) – more about the COVID-19 epidemic forecast in Poland).

For weeks, doctors and scientists have been reminding that the development of the fourth wave depends primarily on the level of vaccination of the public, because vaccines against COVID-19 are the only weapon we have against SARS-CoV-2. – To feel safe, we need to reach the level of 85%. vaccination coverage of Poles – recently said virologist prof. Włodzimierz Gut. If this fails, “there will be deaths”. How much? The professor cited the following example: – In the society that is not sufficiently vaccinated (about 27 percent are fully vaccinated – editor’s note), 19 people die of COVID-800 every day. In vaccinated Britons (similarly: 64% – editor’s note), with a comparable number of cases, deaths are seven times lower.

1. Where do most COVID-19 infections come from? These charts explain it all

As for us, 52 percent took the vaccine. Poles (of course those who can get vaccinated), and the full cycle is behind 50,5 percent. As you can see, to the threshold indicated by prof. Gut, still a long way off. What’s worse, looking at the statistics, you can see that fewer and fewer people come to get vaccinated from week to week.

Vaccinations against COVID-19 during the holidays. How is Poland doing? It’s not good

At the beginning of March this year. Minister Niedzielski said that all volunteers should be vaccinated by the end of the summer holidays. – As we assume that the desired level is vaccinating 60-70 percent. adult population, i.e. about 21-23 million people, we still maintain the scenario that by the end of the summer holidays all applicants should be vaccinated – he said (more on this subject). Unfortunately, we have not managed to do so yet.

Just over the summer holidays (from the beginning of June to the end of August), the vaccine was accepted by just over 14 percent. Poles. While on June 1, 37 percent were vaccinated. of us, on August 31, it was 51,03 percent. For comparison, in Portugal at that time the increase reached 46,3%. On June 1, the vaccination coverage rate was 38,7 percent, and on August 31 – 85 percent. Thus, Portugal has become the most vaccinated society in the EU against COVID-19 (it is also ahead of the United Kingdom).

Spain also made a lot of progress (1% of the population were vaccinated from June 31 to August 38,8) and Denmark (38% at the same time). France recorded a significant increase (32,5%). The graphics below show how vaccination rates fluctuated from June to August. For comparison, we also added a chart from March.

Source: ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations

Why is vaccination against COVID-19 going so slowly? Did we sleep through the holidays? Have we forgotten something? Maybe there are other reasons?

“We have failed both as a state and as a society”

We asked the drug for his opinion. Bartosz Fiałek. – The interest in vaccinations against COVID-19 in Poland continues to decline and the holiday period has little impact on it – he told Medonet. – Of course, in the summer the number of patients or medical procedures decreases, but for the current low percentage of vaccinated society in Poland, I would not blame only holidays. There are many reasons for this.

The expert notes that we already had the problem with the number of people willing to vaccinate against COVID-19. – Those who wanted to get vaccinated did it. Some people have been convinced by the populators of knowledge about COVID-19, encouraging celebrities to vaccinate, and finally the government vaccine lottery. But still, roughly half of the people chose not to vaccinate against COVID-19. And we don’t really have many ideas on how to make them do it – says Bartosz Fiałek. – It must be clearly stated that we have failed both as a state and as a society.

– It is known that government tools, no matter how best, will not do everything – admits the doctor. – So we can say that the National Immunization Program turned out to be a partial failure. On the other hand, those who do not vaccinate because of their beliefs have shown that they are not very responsible citizens and do not think about public health as a whole.

Why are vaccinations in Poland going so slowly? First Cause Doctor

When asked about the reasons for the slow progress in vaccination, the doctor points out two of the most important in his opinion. – I will always say: health education is of the greatest importance. And in it, as a society, we have a huge backlog. We simply know too little about health, and even more so about preventive vaccinations – says Bartosz Fiałek, adding: – I know many Polish doctors working in the EU and beyond. They all agree that when they worked in Poland, they saw that the health knowledge of the society is at a low level, lower than in other developed countries. One of the consequences of this phenomenon is the low interest in preventive vaccinations. And it’s not just COVID-19. Let’s look at flu vaccinations. Before the pandemic, 4-6 percent were vaccinated. Poles. For comparison, in the Netherlands – 70 percent. society.

The doctor points out that “when planning the National Vaccination Program, the authorities did not focus on this education”. – The information campaign did not provide any arguments why it is worth taking the vaccine, and the fears of Polish women and Poles related to vaccination were not dispelled (Meanwhile, among the main reasons for reluctance to vaccination, Poles mention the belief that the vaccine was developed too quickly, the fear of possible side effects and the lack of certainty whether the vaccine is safe – ed.). Instead, there were spots with celebrities and material prizes (vaccine lottery).

1. Why Poles do not want to vaccinate? Three main reasons [SURVEY]

– Meanwhile, a health-educated citizen knows why vaccines were developed at such a pace. He knows where the side effects come from. He knows that the vast majority of post-vaccination symptoms are short-lived, that they are usually mild to moderate, and that they are ailments in response to stimulation of the immune system – the doctor lists.

— Of course, severe complications do happen, but they are very rare. The health-educated citizen knows that this cannot be avoided because any drug, including vaccines, can cause side effects. The balance of benefits and risks clearly supports the vaccination – underlines. – Since the beginning of the systemic transformation, that is since 1989, our state has unfortunately not focused on education, also in the field of health. Now we can see the consequences. We learn to remember, not to understand. This also applies to the processes related to one’s own health – summarizes the specialist.

Why are vaccinations in Poland going so slowly? Fiałek gives a second reason

The second important thing related to the failure of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign in Poland is, according to Bartosz Fiałek, trust in the government. – This is also not the best with us – he admits. – As a result, all the changes introduced by the current government are not well received by part of the society. Because if we do not trust someone, why should we be enthusiastic about the procedures being introduced? On top of that, there is also our mentality. There is rebellion in people all the time – if the government says to vaccinate, we will not do it out of spite.

What could have been done better? – If it was decided to go to education, reach digitally and technologically excluded people through the door-to-door campaign and if the government enjoyed greater public trust, I am convinced that a larger percentage of the nation would get vaccinated – says the doctor. – And so we are on the eve of the next epidemic wave, with only 52 percent. fully vaccinated population. It is really very dangerous.

We also asked Bartosz Fiałek about the reasons for Portugal’s success in vaccination against COVID-19. – I think that people trust the authorities and scientists there. In addition, during the fall and winter epidemic wave and the then-introduced lockdown, the public saw what the COVID-19 pandemic was really related to and was just ripe for vaccination. People realized that if they didn’t want to die and want no more lockdowns, they had to get vaccinated.

You may be interested in:

1. New ECDC map. Poland is one of the two countries with the best epidemic situation
2. Who can make the number of infected people go down? Poles indicated two groups [SONDAŻ]
3. Where can the fourth wave hit the hardest? The worrying trend [MAPS]

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