The epidemiologist Quique Bassat has assessed live on Antena 3 Noticias the impact of the new mutation of the Ómicron variant. Spain has not yet passed the sixth wave and we are already facing another mutation of the omicron variant that can cause a problem in detecting positives when doing a PCR.
Could it be more difficult to detect in PCR tests and therefore more difficult to stop its spread? “We know very little about this new variant, is mostly in Denmark and seems to have originated in India. The Danes were beginning to recover but it is early to draw any conclusion in Spain. We cannot relax the measures“says Bassat.
Do we all need the booster shot?
The WHO today highlighted the importance of booster doses to be protected against the severity of the disease. Will this strategy of vaccinations every few months hold up in the long term?
“We hope that the reinforcement is not necessary for the general population but for the most vulnerable, although with two doses we are protected, now we know that the third dose protects us more, those who are not vaccinated are playing it, exposing yourself to an infection without the protection of the vaccine is very dangerous,” explains the epidemiologist.
Have we had a lukewarm response to this sixth wave?
On the other hand, two weeks have passed since the return to school, at the peak of contagion… Can it be said that the measures are working in the classrooms? “There are many infections in children, these are the least vaccinated group and I insist again on the importance of vaccinating them. Community transmission must be reduced, until then the schools will continue to suffer.”
We have had almost 2 years of restrictions, measures and protocols, pandemic fatigue is increasing, especially when some of these regulations seem to have questionable effectiveness. What message can we send to the population? “You have to ask yourself if the rules work or if we are not being rigorous, we have had a lukewarm response to this explosive wave, there have been counterproductive messages, we are all very fed up but we have to keep rolling up our sleeves to reduce transmission”, concluded Quique Bassat.
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