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They recommend vaccination against the new coronavirus, praise the use of the Covid Radar application to detect infections in Spain and highlight some of the errors (and successes) of the authorities when it comes to dealing with the pandemic.
The world is in a race to develop a vaccine against the new coronavirus that will allow us to return to the old normal, where social distancing and the use of masks were not necessary. The World Health Organization (WHO) currently has 173 vaccine projects registered in different phases of development, of which 31 are in the clinical experimentation phase. Of them, only six have reached phase 3, the last and most complex step before receiving approval from international regulators, and it will still take months to publish the results of their respective clinical trials.
Russia has gone ahead of everyone and has already launched its vaccine, named Sputnik V and which, although the country's president, Vladimir Putin, assures that it is completely reliable, does not have the support of the world health organization. .
Despite these advances, Spaniards have doubts about the effectiveness of vaccines against covid-19, according to a study coordinated by the Carlos III Health Institute and promoted by the World Health Organization, which aims to know the perception of the population of the current covonavirus pandemic and the evolution of the disease. Among other results, it is found that seven out of ten Spaniards would get vaccinated against the coronavirus if they could and it were recommended by the health authorities to prevent an infection that 21% of Spaniards see as "difficult or very difficult" to avoid.
There are also those who doubt the real situation of the pandemic, both in Spain and in the rest of the world, and those who are clearly skeptical about it, even denying the reality of the virus and spreading all kinds of hoaxes and misinformation about it.
Five experts contacted by Heraldo.es speak about these topics, and some more, who unanimously recommend vaccination when the therapy is fully developed, praise the use of the Radar Covid application to detect infections in Spain and highlight some of the errors (and successes) of the authorities when facing the pandemic.
Questionnaire
1- Seven out of ten Spaniards would get vaccinated against the coronavirus if it were recommended by the health authorities. What would you say to the remaining three?
2- Would you get vaccinated when the authorities recommend it?
3- There are those who believe in conspiracy theories such as that the virus was created in a laboratory, or that vaccines are intended to be used to control the population. Are these hoaxes a handicap for the fight against the coronavirus? How can they be combated?
4- Do you think measures such as the Radar Covid application are effective?
5- Is it safe to go back to school? Do you think it is being articulated correctly?
6- What do you think is the biggest mistake in managing the pandemic?
Carlos Martín Montañés. Professor of Microbiology at the University of Zaragoza
1- That if the Spanish Medicines Agency and the European Medicines Agency approve the use of a new vaccine against coronavirus, we can be sure that it will be safe and will have shown its effectiveness in phase 3. Today we can live in society and take our children to school because we have very effective vaccines against a large number of infectious diseases, some of which we have not seen in many years, such as diphtheria or measles. We do not have a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, and it is being a social and health disaster.
2- As I have already said, if a new vaccine is authorized by the AEMPS and EMA, which assess the risk-benefit of new medications, yes.
3- Hoaxes are fought with a lot of science and a lot of data.
4- All measures that can help contact studies are important. We will have to evaluate and see its usefulness with its use.
5- It is not realistic to talk about a vaccine for everyone for this fall or next year. In the fall we will know if any of the new vaccines are capable of protecting against the coronavirus or not, but from then on to having it available in the pharmacy... Long safety and efficacy studies are needed in a large number of people. It is clear that we have to lead as normal a life as possible and act with the measures we have at our disposal, which are case detection, contact studies and isolation of both. Living and fighting with covid-19 is the reality that awaits us for the next school year.
6- Not recognizing from the beginning how little we know and communicating it, of course not alarming but with a great deal of humility. At first we thought it was like a flu concentrated in the month of March, but we still don't know many things about SARS-CoV-2, the outbreak in July and August, now the reinfection in three patients. The good news is that we can learn to fight new pandemics that could be much deadlier than covid-19. Our microbiology laboratories in hospitals are doing enormous work in diagnosis, increasing their capacity with molecular techniques considerably. Our clinicians have learned to treat our patients much more effectively. Trackers have been trained... Japan learned from its fight against SARS-CoV-1 in 2003 and the pandemic has been controlled much better in its country than in Europe. From everything bad we have the obligation to draw conclusions and learn for the future.
Rosa Magallón Botaya. Family doctor
1- That if the vaccine is effective and safe, they have no reason not to get vaccinated and it is a social and public health responsibility.
2- Yes.
3- It is an obstacle, without a doubt, in the fight against the coronavirus, but not only the conspiracy, but all the hoaxes that circulate of all kinds, some very dangerous; What is really important is to transmit truthful, reliable, institutional and uniform information throughout the state, which is clear and easy to understand.
4- I do not have a clear criterion, what worries me in principle is that it is a voluntary activity, as I understand it, that not everyone understands or will understand and will want to collaborate, and that it can increase the digital divide in groups vulnerable populations or with digital economic or linguistic barriers.
5- I hope it is safe, and it is absolutely necessary because boys and girls need to return to education as normalized as possible. They must socialize and learn together as a way of development and growth. We must safely normalize life. What I do believe is that the return could have been organized with a little more time. There is a lot of concern in families and in the educational community. I have no doubt that the measures to be taken will be safe, but they are taking a while.
6- The pandemic has highlighted the limitations and shortcomings of our health system, which has been experiencing budget cuts for years. Especially in Primary Care. It is difficult to manage a situation that has come upon us unexpectedly and with dimensions of serious consequences like the one we are experiencing. The biggest mistake is, in my opinion, not having taken note of some of the errors of the first wave, and not taking advantage of some of the opportunities for improvement that it offered us. But it is true that, in retrospect, everything looks easier.
