“I think we did the best. The mitigation tools we have selected are tailored to the stage of the pandemic we are in, said Health Minister Adam Niedzielski on Radio Plus’ “The Heart of the Matter” program when asked about the strategy of the government regarding the coronavirus pandemic.
Government Pandemic Strategy
The health minister was asked about the government’s strategy in relation to the pandemic. According to Adam Niedzielski “one should compare oneself with other countries”.
We were relatively liberal
– the minister assessed, adding that the logic was that if we were prepared from a vaccination point of view, the efficiency of the health care system, the restrictions could be relaxed.
In the beginning, the instruments used were much more restrictive. The more we knew, the more doctors knew, the more new drugs appeared, the more we could liberalize these policies. We liberalized it relatively early. Looking at the comparison with other countries, it can be said that we have made rational decisions. See China’s policy, which continues to place restrictions on complete isolation of patients. At the moment they have a problem, because every time big bonfires break out, the discontent increases. I think we did the best. The mitigation tools we have selected are tailored to the stage of the pandemic we are in
said the health minister.
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Covid-19 vaccinations
The minister was also asked about the fifth dose of the COVID-19 vaccination, which will start in mid-April. The fifth dose is recommended for people who have received a fourth dose of a monovalent vaccine, are over the age of 60 or are immunocompromised or work in medical facilities.
Niedzielski noted that with regard to vaccinations, Poland is looking at the actions of other European countries and the recommendations of institutions responsible for infection control. He noted that the fifth dose vaccination is in line with what the EU institutions recommend.
He explained that there is some kind of expectation about whether we will have access to combined flu and COVID-19 vaccines for next season.
Vaccine manufacturers are conducting very intensive research and are announcing that we may have a combined vaccine for both flu and seasonal COVID-19 before the next winter seasons
he explained. He added that such a product had been announced by the second largest manufacturer – Moderna.
When asked whether such a double vaccine would be reimbursed, the minister ruled that the tendency to vaccinate is the biggest problem in Poland.
Compared to other European countries, we are not doing well, because the willingness to vaccinate is definitely higher there. We will certainly consider the possibility of reimbursement every time as an incentive to get vaccinated and protect ourselves
he noticed.
The head of the Ministry of Health was also questioned about the stock of vaccines and the dispute with manufacturers over contracts. The politician replied that he had managed to resolve the conflict with two producers: Moderna and Novavax.
Indeed, these producers understood Poland’s perspective. We have made it very clear that this is not just a question of low vaccination propensity, but above all that we have been dealing with a difficult crisis situation for more than a year related to the influx of refugees, the pressure on our public finances from the purchase of weapons
he explained
At the same time, he pointed out that there is still a dispute with Pfizer, which, according to Niedzielski, is behaving completely unreasonably by rejecting Polish arguments.
Epidemic in Poland
Referring to the state of the epidemic in the country, he stressed that we are dealing with a very unusual flu course, as in previous years. Although the peak of the disease was around the turn of the year, we are now entering April and their numbers are still high.
We’re surprised it takes three months for this number to stay above 20, 25,000, because this is really unusual mileage. Here we don’t see such a trend for now that there’s going to be a marked drop from week to week I still think going into the spring season as it’s been traditionally will result in these declines after Christmas
– he said
He noted that the peak of COVID-19 cases happened about two weeks ago, when the daily number of cases was about 3,000. Currently, the average daily number of cases is 1.3 thousand.
After several years of isolation, limited mobility, school – I’m not talking about restrictions in the sense of some activity, but we all wore masks, more attention was paid to it. In that respect, this is a year in which we unfortunately make up for what previous years were not ill. There is a very unusual course here and therefore also a reason to extend the state of emergency
said the minister.
When asked about the possibility of successive waves of COVID-19, he replied that that should be taken into account, but noted that in the case of COVID-19, seasonality is not related to the seasons, like flu. Moreover, he added, in the case of the coronavirus, we have very dynamic increases and then very dynamic decreases.
wkt/PAP/Radio Plus
Source: wPolityce