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At the time, Alvija Černiauskaitė, President of the Lithuanian community in the United Kingdom (UK), explained why British confidence in the vaccine had not wavered when European countries stopped vaccinating AstraZeneca.
It is worth mentioning that after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced on Thursday that the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 is safe and effective, on Friday vaccination with this vaccine will resume in Lithuania.
“Worse” mutations
According to Professor S. Čaplinskas, the decision made by the Ministry of Health (SAM) on Tuesday and the two-day vaccination with the AstraZeneca vaccine was a big mistake, which is dangerous for several reasons.
“If people skip the second dose of the vaccine, no matter what the vaccine is, they will not develop complete immunity and the virus will take advantage of it; in other words, the virus will have a better chance of mutating.”
Now there is a lot of talk about the mutation in the virus, which is why it mutates so quickly. One of the reasons is that it spreads very fast, there are many infected people, immunity works differently.
The more people have ‘some’ immunity, either because it fades after the disease, or because they are not fully vaccinated, or because full immunity is not developed, there is a chance that resistant mutations and, say, worse mutations , develop. develop.
This is another example of why suspicion is dangerous if people don’t get the second dose, ”said S. Čaplinskas.
Problems – from the past
Although the SAM Minister’s decision to temporarily suspend vaccination was the biggest blow to the reputation of the AstraZeneca vaccine, there has been mistrust in Lithuanian society in this and other COVID-19 vaccines before.
In response to who should communicate about vaccines and the vaccination process, S. Čaplinskas stated that communication errors were made much earlier.
“First of all, local doctors, local authorities must have enough knowledge and be able to talk about vaccines, to be able to answer the questions that people have.
Start with the people you believe the most: it could be a family member, a neighbor, or the media. It has been rightly pointed out that people need to receive the information that interests them before making a decision, and not when they are already invited to come and get vaccinated ”, said the professor.
According to him, representatives outside the ministry and non-politicians should communicate about vaccines.
“What can the people of the ministry communicate, what can the politicians say? This is the first mistake: the ministry should, as a rule, not hinder the work of professionals, trust them and give them tools.
In this sense, the previous government destroyed public health institutions and those institutions that had to function and this work educated citizens.
On the other hand, the question of how doctors are trained in the field of communicable diseases has been raised for a long time: the programs have been practically destroyed, so young doctors cannot be blamed, and not only the young ones. young doctors, due to little training in communicable diseases, immunity. that is no longer relevant, as if the era of communicable diseases is over, ”said S. Čaplinskas.
According to him, for many years, experts from the World Health Organization have reiterated that in the modern world, people have provided opportunities to revive old communicable diseases and new ones.
“In this case, people who deny the vaccine, doubt the benefits of the vaccine and have great opportunities with the creation of social networks,” he said.
There are groups of volunteers
A.Černiauskaitė, President of the Lithuanian Community in the United Kingdom (UK), said during the program that although European Union countries stopped vaccinating AstraZeneca one after another, British confidence in this vaccine did not waver.
How is communication on vaccination in the UK different from communication in Lithuania?
“Communication works through various channels: firstly, various media and portals are communicated. If things happen like now with AstraZeneca, when several countries have stopped vaccinating with this vaccine, then there are many articles and explanations that they are not they are registering more common symptoms than usual right now.
People are informed about how many, statistically, after so many millions of people have been vaccinated, there have been accidents and how many of them occur regularly, ”explained A.Černiauskaitė.
In addition, according to her, there is a group of volunteers: “A group of volunteers also visits older people who may not register for vaccination, they talk, they help to register if they still decide to get vaccinated.”
According to her, the British trust their vaccine manufacturer, the University of Oxford, so there is no such discussion that is currently boiling over in Lithuania. A.Černiauskaitė also distinguishes a well-functioning vaccination registration system.
“After receiving an invitation, a person checks in at a convenient time for him, therefore there are far fewer such absences than in other places, because a person who has decided not to go simply does not register and does not occupy a place “said A Černiauskaitė. According to her, the vaccination centers are still open after business hours.
According to the community president, more than 25 million people are currently vaccinated with at least the first dose in the UK. people, of which 11 million. vaccinated with AstraZeneca. 95 percent vaccinated. people over 65 years of age. Almost 50% vaccinated. all adults, but still vaccines for priority groups.
According to A.Černiauskaitė, in the UK, as in Lithuania, only politicians of appropriate age have been vaccinated.
“They emphasize that they will not make any reservations, just look at the vaccination permit according to age,” he said.
On Thursday night, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) ruled on the safety of the AstraZeneca and Oxford University vaccines, and some countries fear a risk of blood clots and are suspending the vaccine.
The EVA has reported that the vaccine is safe and does not cause additional adverse reactions that could result in death in vaccinated individuals. Additionally, the study revealed that AstraZeneca is working effectively.
