Kon: Measures in force are not enough, we expect more than 1,500 new daily cases by week's end

Photo: Tanjug/Sava Radovanovic

Improvement is not in sight, on the contrary - the activity of the virus will continue to increase, epidemiologist and member of the Crisis HQ, Dr. Predrag Kon has warned. He told TV Pink that professionals have been warning for a month about the increase in the number of coronavirus numbers and acceleration of the virus's activity. By the end of the week, he expects the average number of new daily cases to be just under 1,500.

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"We had lower numbers in the first days of the week, and by the end of the week we can expect even more than 1,500 cases in 24 hours," says Dr. Kon.

Improvement, he adds, is not in sight, on the contrary - the activity of the virus will continue to increase, and that can only be stopped by preventing contact and taking very serious measures that will be discussed.

"We expect direct consultations and a meeting of the Crisis HQ. Everything is known and what has been in force so far is one possibility, and it seems to me that there is currently no will for Covid passes. The question is how possible it would be to implement them, although they are the most rational (solution)," Dr. Kon said on the Novo Jutro program.

When it comes to public gatherings, Dr. Kon says that control over the implementation of measures must be tightened. He says that we did relatively well with the Exit music festival, while the consequences of (non) compliance with the measures during the festival in Guca are yet to be seen.

"Various celebrations are organized that cannot be controlled, so in such circumstances the question and the idea is whether Covid passes are the best solution. The question of opening hours will also come up, as well as how night clubs will organize. Honestly, I don't see a reason for them not to work if people who have been vaccinated or who have had Covid gather there. However, now we see that there is no total protection, which is evident in the case of Israel where immunity breakthrough is taking place," says the epidemiologist.

Israel, he says, is a country with a high number of vaccinated people, but it saw the virus imported through various clusters from abroad, as well as by its own tourists. From there, the immunity breakthrough started.

"In conditions when contact is long enough, six months after the last dose of the vaccine there is immunity breakthrough. It's important to understand that, when there is no epidemic, there is no immunity breakthrough," the epidemiologist points out.

Asked about the third dose, Kon explains that anyone who got vaccinated 180 or more days ago can receive the third dose. There are, he says, priority groups - people with weakened immunity, people with certain diseases and health conditions that require therapy that suddenly lowers immunity, all those who are older than 70, and those living in collective accommodation and are over 60.

"Those are the ones who should to receive the third vaccine," says Kon. This, he says, is a recommendation, and everyone who's beyond the scope of that recommendation, can receive the third dose on personal request, in accordance with regulations.

Which vaccine should be the third dose?

The patient and their doctor decide together which vaccine will be administered for the third time, says Dr. Kon. So far, he adds, the case has always been that the patient is vaccinated with the same vaccine, and if the same type of vaccine is not available, then any is recommended.

"That has been the stance for a while," says Dr. Kon.

He adds that there is already data that shows Pfizer and AstraZeneca are a good combination, while with Sputnik V it is insisted that the third vaccine is the same as the first component. With the Chinese vaccine, the first, second and third doses should be the same.

"Sinopharm is a complete virus technology, while the others are based on a 'spike' antigen that penetrates the cell," explains the epidemiologist.

"Endangered groups will receive the invitation first, and then other citizens will be invited to the to get vaccinated according to the date they received the second dose," says Kon.

Kon says he is afraid for the unvaccinated people and that one fact is devastating - that only 1 percent of children have been vaccinated, compared to more than 50 percent of adults.

"All standards for registration of the vaccine for persons older than 12 have been respected, that vaccine exists in Serbia and I want someone to explain to me the reason for leaving out children! The main explanation is that the disease is very mild in children, but we know that there are more severe cases in children as well," says Dr. Kon.

He points out that pediatricians are responsible for this percentage of vaccinated children.

"I don't accept any responsibility for the fact that they have not been vaccinated, and I want that to be noted, that is why I'm talking about it publicly. So, both pediatricians and parents are deciding that a child should be infected and count on natural immunity. Why, I ask?! That is a big question, and the answer is that there is suspicion that something is wrong with the vaccine, and that is the strongest anti-vaccination message that can be sent," says Dr. Kon.

He stressed that a society that protects itself from a pandemic should not leave children unprotected. This, he says, is his personal belief that he had to share, because otherwise he "couldn't stand not to."

(Telegraf.rs)