Consider that an antibody test is not required prior to COVID-19 vaccination – the process takes up to 50 minutes when someone misses the vaccine

Wednesday’s Health Affairs Committee meeting began with the topic of inaccurate statistics on COVID-19-related deaths. Ž.Simonaitytė said that health care institutions had to report deaths to the National Public Health Center (NVSC) separately, as well as enter these data in e. Healthcare system.

Before Christmas, this order was changed, according to her, that now it is enough to enter information about deaths in the system.

Historical death statistics will change even more

The director of the NVSC, Robertas Petraitis, stated that the information received by the NVSC on the deaths and the information that was e. in health, it did not coincide.

“Deaths are recorded on death certificates, there was simply no match between the number of deaths according to the death certificates and the number of deaths according to the reports provided by medical institutions,” he said.

The Health Ministry has previously announced that 804 unaccounted deaths related to COVID-19 have been identified during the digitization of NVCS operations. Of these, 324 were due to coronavirus and 480 to other causes, although the deceased had coronavirus.

R. Petraitis explained that these data will continue to change.

“People who have died from other causes but who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 should be considered on a case-by-case basis, as we now see that some people who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and who have died from other causes have already died. by COVID-19. 19. This is the number that was published – 804 – it was inaccurate. We need to check everyone now, ”he said.

The number that was published, 804, was inaccurate.

Saulius Urbanavičius, the head of the Registry Center, who participated in the meeting, considered that the cause of death is more precisely determined by the Institute of Hygiene. Romualdas Gurevičius, director of the Institute’s Health Information Center, agreed with that.

“The main manager of death statistics is the State Registry of Deaths and their Causes of the Institute of Hygiene. It is a shame that some issues have not been closely coordinated with the statistics that we have been monitoring for so many years, ”he lamented.

R. Gurevičius noted that the NVSC used a separate registration system to track deaths and that it was immediately clear that the statistics to be kept there would be incomplete and inaccurate.

100 percent. it was clear that the data would not match state death statistics.

“100 percent. It was clear that the data would not match the state mortality statistics and would certainly affect the operation of the alternative systems, the integrity of the system,” he said, noting that the NVSC should always have announced that the statistics of deaths from COVID-19 were preliminary.

The NVSC, which had previously explained where information about some of the deaths had disappeared, said it had not been provided or was delayed by a medical institution.

“The saying that someone did not send did not fill out the documents, <...> here’s a funny saying. We need to work to ensure that the information is complete, ”replied a representative from the Institute of Hygiene.

He criticized, among other things, the decision to introduce a distinction between those who died from COVID-19 and those who died from causes other than COVID-19. According to R. Gurevičius, special skills are needed to assess the nuances of this, therefore it was in vain that he made it difficult for doctors.

R. Petraitis pointed out that the NVSC does not collect statistical data, but operational data, that is, it is important that the center receives them as soon as possible to be able to effectively combat the contagious disease. The manager assured that the system used by NVSC for data collection was outdated, which prompted a request to the Ministry to modernize the system.

It justifies that the regions did not receive the vaccines immediately

On Wednesday, members of the Health Committee also discussed the success of medical institutions in vaccinating with COVID-19. Dainius Bardauskas, mayor of the Kupiškis district municipality, addressed the committee with a letter on this issue.

According to him, the first shipment of vaccines received from Panevėžys Hospital does not meet the expectations and interests of district hospitals, which also treat people infected with COVID-19.

“We believe that the decisions of the Panevėžys Hospital in the distribution of the quantity of vaccines to the hospitals in the region are unacceptable,” explained the mayor.

According to its chair, Antanas Matulas, the committee received around 60 letters with similar content: it was asked why the supportive care facilities had barely received the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Deputy Minister of Health, Ž.Sonaitytė, assured that the first shipment of vaccines that Lithuania received was small and that it was normal that someone did not receive them.

“The first dose, which was less than 10,000, <...> natural to ensure even distribution … Still, someone would not have obtained, <...> but we had a decision to make and we made it, making specific lists [pareigą] we have entrusted and continue to entrust the five regional coordinators of the centers ”, he explained.

According to the deputy minister, other shipments of vaccines arrived in Lithuania on Tuesday, the doses should be enough to vaccinate all doctors or other personnel working with COVID-19 patients.

“Yesterday, both the second and third consignments received were sent and distributed to five regional centers, major personal health facilities, where all doctors, staff and volunteers who work directly with COVID-19 will continue to be vaccinated. We are talking here of more than 30 thousand. dose. Including those that were distributed before the new year, a total of 40 thousand. dose ”, – said Ž.Simonaitytė.

Remigijus Mažeika, director of Šiauliai Hospital, agreed that low doses of the vaccine were received for the first time.

“The problem is that we received the vaccine, which did not meet the scope of the first stage, we had a meeting with the district hospitals and we presented the principles according to which the vaccinations will be carried out. It was chosen that we will vaccinate very high and high risk personnel, as Šiauliai Hospital is the only one in the region that provides third-level services, cluster services and is the entire COVID-19 hospital. COVID-19 units are organized for each unit.

Vaccinating workers who provide services to people throughout the region was not a luxury but a duty. Of course, we also gave part of the vaccine to regional hospitals, without whose help we would not have survived and survived, “he said.

Vaccinations at the health centers will begin on Thursday

Panevėžys Hospital Director Arvydas Skorupskas explained that all vaccines from the first shipment went to Panevėžys Hospital staff, who directly provide COVID-19 services, and now the received batch has been distributed to other institutions.

“The second batch, which arrived yesterday, was distributed among the regional institutions without leaving a single dose. That is, 1950 doses went to the medical institutions of Panevėžys and Utena according to the priority list, and this morning he is being vaccinated ”, assured the manager.

In his opinion, it makes more sense to vaccinate the staff of one institution at a time, rather than one part at a time.

“If we cover by institutions, choosing a specific institution, vaccinating it and thus moving on to other institutions, then we will achieve an effect, and it is likely that we will have herd immunity,” said A. Skorupskas such theory and assured that vaccination in the region will begin on Thursday. institutions.

Speaking about vaccines, Vice Minister Ž.Sonaonaitytė hinted that they would not be used to vaccinate people with COVID-19 and those whose blood contains antibodies against this virus. To find out, you will need to do a separate study that will take about 15 minutes.

P.Kibišai, director of the Kaunas City Polyclinic and member of the Board of the Medical Leaders Union, was a first; in his opinion, such tests need not be performed.

The manager said that the vaccination process will take a long time during the tests, it will require more staff, there will be false answers in the tests, which will mean that part of the population will not receive the vaccine by mistake.

“For the first time, I officially heard about an antibody test prior to the COVID-19 vaccination. <...> We have experience with those tests. We test teachers with them, we know what it’s about.

About 20-25 percent. both vaccinated doctors and other patients will not receive the vaccine on time.

The first thing it gives, in our experience, is around 20-25 percent. false positives, which means about 20-25%. Both vaccinated doctors and other patients will not receive the vaccine in time: they will have to undergo PCR, they will have to isolate and they will have to be vaccinated the next time it is their turn or they are successful.

We plan, we calculate how many vaccines, then the vaccination time of a patient increases at least twice when doing this test, up to 50 minutes. It is nothing to dream about or think about of some kind of mass vaccination with this additional antibody test, ”said P. Kibiša.

“We hardly have enough resources to vaccinate our staff without additional obstacles, we will definitely not have enough staff if we need three times as many,” he added.

Will propose a revision of the guidelines for antibody testing.

P. Kibiša requested that the requirement to carry out antibody tests before vaccination be not legalized: “So far I have not seen this requirement on paper and I would ask a lot and I would like it not to appear. In my head, it’s clearly excessive. “

To this added the president of the Sanitary Affairs Commission, A. Matulas.

“In my opinion, this is also an excessive and absurd requirement. If you buy evidence, use it somewhere or return the money to the state treasury,” he said.

The Deputy Minister of Health, Ž.Sonaitytė, stated that the proposal to use antibody tests in the vaccination process against COVID-19 was proposed by experts.

“Everything we approve in the Ministry of Health is based on the recommendations of the Government’s Council of Experts. <...> We know and understand that there is a recommendation from the expert council to do the same with regard to antibodies, ”he said.

Ž.Simonaitytė assured that the expert council could review the recommendation to use antibody tests.