Some reminders and clarifications about the coronavirus and vaccines were made through a post by Vassilios Margaritis, Senior Lecturer in Public Health at Walden University in the USA.
The professor stressed the importance of both vaccines to deal with the pandemic and protection measures, which he said will follow us for quite some time to come.
Regarding the vaccine, he said that the 3rd booster dose is required for people at high risk for serious disease and for high exposure to the virus regardless of age which increases the chance of getting the disease.
The post in detail:
«Some reminders about the virus and vaccines:
a) Vaccines are not sterile, so you can always get infected. There is confusion in the world and in many researchers about what kind of protection they offer. So far the 2 doses offer the highest protection against severe infection / death. Many studies, however, report a reduction in efficacy after 6-8 months in terms of infection (without disease) and much less in symptomatic disease.
b) Antibodies are expected to fall and protection is provided by T&B memory cells, which will produce fewer but better quality antibodies. This, combined with the fact that there is no reliable antibody test and limit, should lead people not to take antibody tests.
c) Common Mistake: 90% protection against the vaccine does not mean that if 100 are vaccinated, 10% will get sick, but that the vaccinated person is 90% less likely to get the disease than the unvaccinated person. If the virus (like the delta mutation) has a high viral load, many vaccinated people will get sick, but many more will not get vaccinated, so the pandemic affects everyone. However, protection against the vaccine greatly reduces the severity of the disease.
d) The big problem since the beginning of the pandemic remains the groups at high risk for serious disease (> 65, immunosuppressed, severe subjects) and for high exposure to the virus regardless of age which increases the chance of disease (health professions, working with many people, use MMM daily) and they are required to take the 3rd booster dose. The 3rd dose for all is not scientifically presumed, removes valuable doses from underdeveloped countries, loses the goal that the control of the epidemic is done by vaccinating everyone and not by continuously vaccinating the same people and increases the chance of rare side effects.
e) Vaccines and much more treatments are not a panacea, they are extra layers of protection along with mask, ventilation and avoiding crowds indoors. “Living with the virus” does not mean we seek to catch it (vaccinated or not), but we continue to avoid it as long as we do our activities and what we love.
f) Tests are a very important freedom tool for more “dangerous” activities, such as weddings, large family tables, concerts, trips and will stay with us for a long time even for vaccinated and non-vaccinated.
More to come soon. “
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