The United States has released updated vaccines against COVID-19 - with concerns about a large wave of infections with new SARS-CoV-2 variants as a backdrop. A Covid wave is also sweeping through Europe, including Poland, with so little that we know almost nothing about it, at least in our domestic backyard. Since we don't do PCR testing (hardly at all), there's no mention of sequencing the virus either.
Feature
Małgorzata Solecka
Autumn is ahead, and we're back in the woods....
Published Aug. 28, 2024 16:12
Europe is waiting for the EMA's decision on the vaccine. Other countries may feel (more) safe insofar as they have a drug available against COVID-19. In Poland, it is practically unavailable due to a legal dispute with the manufacturer (the issue, of course, is not the drug, but the unilateral breaking of the vaccine supply contract). Some people are traveling to Germany for the drug, with memories of the severe runs of COVID-19 from the first waves of the pandemic and the fact that, doctors say, the virus also causes pneumonia now, although not in such an extremely severe form as in 2020-2021.
The vaccinations are scheduled to be available with us in October, and one hopes that there will be no (unnecessary) delay. That is, they will be available as soon as possible to everyone who wants to be vaccinated. A bigger question than the logistically simple (all in all) operation of arranging the delivery and distribution of vaccines is whether there will be any (preferably not any, but effective) education and information campaign on who should - in a special way - take care of immunization. And whether there will be solutions for groups that should be protected in a special way (for example, for residents of DPS, nursing homes, etc.). Will the public authorities - the government in consultation with local governments - this time also take care of individual seniors. Poland had one of the lower vaccination rates in Europe for people over 80 in 2021-2022 - and the opposition at the time rightly pointed this out to the government.
Of course, we can't expect "miracles." No one is prepared for mass vaccination, and also in other developed countries COVID-19 vaccination is no longer "trendy." Which absolutely does not mean that they are not needed. So is flu vaccination (nota bene, already available in pharmacies). This week, experts will analyze how prepared we are in terms of vaccinations for the upcoming infectious season, which is in fact already underway - as evidenced by data on the number of consultations in the PCP, the lion's share of which are related to upper respiratory tract infections, as evidenced by the number of tests sold in pharmacies. From these scattered jigsaw puzzles emerges a picture in a rather pessimistic tone: if in August hospital wards may not be bursting at the seams, but certainly do not complain about a lack of patients, what can be expected when the school year begins in earnest, when children return to kindergartens and schools?
