[팜뉴스=김응민 기자] The Covid-19 crisis, which had filled the world with fear of a new infectious disease, ended last year when it reached the endemic stage, but there is still concern among experts that tensions should not be eased . The increase in the number of people who refuse vaccination for various reasons can lead to fatal outcomes for high-risk groups and people who have never received a coronavirus vaccine.
The World Health Organization (WHO) ended its declaration of COVID-19 as a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)” in May 2023. In other words, the end of the COVID-19 pandemic was effectively declared after approximately 3 years and 4 months from January 2020.
At the time, the WHO said: “The number of deaths and patients admitted to intensive care units related to COVID-19 has continued to decline and the proportion of the population with immunity has reached a high level. While uncertainty remains about ’emergence of new mutations, it is now possible to treat COVID-19 as a long-term disease.’ “It’s time to handle things from one perspective,” she said.
Around the same time, the Korean government also downgraded the crisis alert for the new coronavirus (Corona 19) infection from “severe” to “alert” and relaxed various quarantine measures, including lifting quarantine obligations, the lifting of PCR testing recommendations and the lifting of the obligation to wear protective clothing. masks indoors and outdoors.
After a long pandemic, a complete recovery of daily life has been achieved. However, worrying voices have recently been raised among infectious disease experts that we must not lose sight of the “tension”.
US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director Robert Califf and Center for Biologics Research and Evaluation Director Peter Marks recently wrote in an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA): “The COVID-19 vaccine developed after many efforts it is… “It has saved countless lives and improved people’s health, but recently many people refuse vaccination,” he said.
He added: “The problem is that the current level of immunity of the American people is at a critical level for some vaccine-preventable infectious diseases, and thousands of people are at risk of dying from weakened immunity, even in diseases that can be reduced in severity. .”
As an example, he cited the recent measles epidemic in the United States.
Measles is an acute infectious disease caused by a viral infection that occurs mainly in infants and children aged 1 to 6 years and is accompanied by a characteristic rash. Symptoms include high fever and acute rash all over the body, and secondary infections such as otitis media and complications of pneumonia may occur.
The characteristic is that the reproduction index of infectious diseases is between 12 and 18, which means that the infection coefficient is very high among common diseases. For this reason, to create herd immunity against measles, at least 95% of the population must be vaccinated, and some conservative views hold that up to 98% must be vaccinated.
In the case of Korea, mandatory national vaccination has been implemented since 1983 and has been maintained to this day after being certified as a measles-free country by WHO in 1984. The United States has also been classified as a country that has completely eliminated measles through national vaccination.
However, several cases of measles outbreaks have continued due to so-called “anti-vaxxers” and a recent case of mass infection of 85 children was reported in central Ohio. Of these, 36 (42%) were admitted to hospital for secondary complications.
These experts said: “The phenomenon of reluctance to receive important childhood vaccines such as those against measles and rubella is largely influenced by parents who trust information circulating on social media rather than based on scientific evidence.” parents have above-middle-class incomes, and he said, “Possesses an education level equivalent to a bachelor’s degree or higher.”
“Paradoxically, due to the success of many vaccination programs so far, many people are becoming complacent, ignoring the scientific facts about vaccination and tending to underestimate the real risks that come from not vaccinating.” “He added.
What is noteworthy is that since COVID-19 was declared endemic, the number of people refusing vaccination is increasing and this could lead to the healthcare environment reaching a dangerous “tipping point”.
Turning point means a “sudden turning point,” which is a dramatic turning point where minor factors come together to break the balance and change everything in an instant.
Experts said: “Although some argue that COVID-19 is not a serious disease in younger age groups, it has been shown that people who have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, regardless of age, have a significantly reduced risk of death compared to those who did not.” has explained.
“As a result of a comparative analysis of 11.71 million people who had not been vaccinated against the coronavirus and 9.9 million people who had been vaccinated at least once, the risk of death in the unvaccinated group was 2 .46 times higher”. compared to that of the vaccinated group.” “We have clear data on the progression of the disease, the hospitalization rate and the mortality rate,” she added.
Just as everyone wears a seat belt when driving a vehicle, everyone should be vaccinated, but it should be noted that deaths due to COVID-19 continue as the vaccination rollout has recently intensified.
To resolve this situation, it has been suggested to present accurate data based on scientific data, while healthcare professionals should actively inform people about the benefits of vaccination.
These experts said: “The best way to respond to misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine is to actively disseminate scientific data to dilute the false information” and added: “Providing accurate information protects against diseases or infections that can be prevented through vaccination.” . “It can reduce deaths,” he said.
At the same time, he said, “health experts must strive to provide the general public with information on the benefits of vaccination for individuals and society in accurate and easy-to-understand language,” adding: “Through this, we can prevent infectious diseases children and reduce the risk of infectious diseases such as COVID-19.” “We must minimize it and prevent a resurgence,” he stressed.
2024-01-09 21:00:00
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