Speaking of a major break in the coronavirus curve: Razmuvienė’s warning for people of one age group

One dose won’t be enough

Asked by the Delfi portal to assess the situation of coronavirus morbidity in Lithuania, D. Razmuvienė did not doubt that the situation is improving and the morbidity curve is currently decreasing.

“It just came to our attention then. For probably two full weeks, we have been seeing a situation in which all indicators are gradually improving: the number of cases is decreasing in both 7 days and 14 days, and only one of the municipalities that were in the black zone remains today. . Others who were in the black zone clearly did not turn yellow immediately, when there may be only a hundred sick people. They are now dark red. This means that they contain between 200 and 500 possible diseases per 100,000 inhabitants. But those dark reds change to lighter when the number of patients is registered even lower, around 200. Now there are five yellow municipalities where the number of patients is less than 200. It would be desirable that the incidence, which is gradually decreasing, continue to decline decline. This will undoubtedly lead to vaccination ”, the doctor did not hesitate.

According to the interlocutor, there are now more than 1 million people vaccinated with at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, still only about 34-36 percent of the population.

“It takes two doses to develop complete immunity,” recalled D. Razmuvienė. – The number of people who receive these two doses is less, around 50%. those who received the first dose. Every effort should be made to ensure that people have access to the second dose, especially those over the age of 65. Here’s our slightly weaker spot. People of this age should be given the most attention and more work should be done with them. As we know, there are several communication and social problems in individual municipalities: not so much that these people do not want to be vaccinated, but there are some reasons.

Vaccination of the elderly is important because, if we look at death statistics, the highest number of deaths was recorded among those over 65 who were not vaccinated. It means that there is a risk and that only vaccines can save us today. “

Preventive testing is also important for epidemic control. The epidemiologist pointed out that now, to obtain the Opportunity Passport, people are ready to do more tests and the municipalities must create all the conditions for that.

“I think this should be taken into account, because people who want to obtain the Passport of Opportunities will go to preventive tests and there will definitely be positive cases of the virus among them. This will again help to stop the spread of the virus,” said the interlocutor.

Protection will remain in the fall

D. Razmuvienė said it was too early to decide what the correlation was between the percentage of people vaccinated in municipalities and the reduction in morbidity, but he did not doubt that there was a connection.

For example, in two municipalities in the Vilnius region, where vaccination rates were low, less than 20%, there were more people infected with coronavirus. What is due to the development of universal immunity due to recurrence can only be determined by serological tests and antibody titers.

And in northern Lithuania, which is in lighter areas in terms of morbidity, vaccination volumes were quite high. It is true that the Brazilian strain of coronavirus detected in the Panevėžys region can set foot here.

“It is difficult to say how it got there. Today, it is clear that there is no great spread, but we are waiting for a laboratory response. Vaccination rates in northern Lithuania are quite high, but with the appearance of some strain, such as Brazilian or not, it is difficult to say how vaccines can protect against them: either completely, as well as against the main virus, or only partially. Knowing that most people have received a single dose, the antibody titer is still not high enough to protect against the so-called new imported strains, ”said the epidemiologist.

Therefore, according to D. Razmuvienė, it is very important that as many people as possible have been vaccinated with both doses, not 30-40%, but even 70%.

“Now, with more intensive and active vaccination, we will undoubtedly also protect ourselves during the fall period.” It is now almost June. If people get more intensive and get the second vaccine in mid to late June, they will definitely have protection in the fall months, knowing that the antibodies last at least six months, maybe longer, maybe even eight. So, at this point, investing in prevention, we will definitely protect ourselves not only for the summer, but also for the fall ”, promised the interlocutor.

The virus was removed from care and treatment facilities.

The decline in the number of outbreaks also shows that vaccines are helping and that the third wave of the pandemic in Lithuania is receding.

“If by the end of April by May 20 we had reached more than 400, even close to 500 outbreaks, there were 331 last week. Again, those outbreaks did not occur that week because the outbreak is active for 14 days. means they occurred within a 2 week period Most outbreaks are ongoing and new ones are isolated.

The major outbreaks are now in the workplace and in families. There are about 30 percent in families. all outbreaks, ”said D. Razmuvienė, urging employers to take steps to make employees feel safe when they return to work.

The epidemiologist was pleased that the number of new outbreaks in schools, both primary and primary, has dropped by 30 to 50 percent in the past two weeks. Also with health and social care institutions, where only isolated outbreaks are registered and their number is decreasing.

“If we take areas like welfare homes, most of it, about 80 percent, is vaccinated not only by employees, but also by nurses. There have been no outbreaks there since March. This means that vaccines can control this virus.

Also in health establishments. Most doctors are vaccinated. New cases of the virus may appear when new patients or doctors arrive. But let’s remember what happened last year when there was a really very serious situation in the treatment facilities.

Local examples as small as those in social care homes or health facilities, where vaccination exceeds 80 percent. people have managed to recover, which suggests that vaccination is the only remedy against coronavirus. There is no other “, the interlocutor summarized the conversation.