GET VACCINATED AGAINST COVID-19

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Preparations are underway to start mass vaccinations against COVID-19. Doctors from the Amethyst Radiotherapy Center join the appeals of many medical communities and encourage people to get vaccinated.

- Mass vaccination is the only rational way to limit the pandemic. However, their effectiveness will only be achieved when approximately 70% of the population is vaccinated. I intend to get vaccinated myself at the first possible date and I encourage everyone to take this step – he convinces Marcin Hetnał, MD, PhD, medical director of the Amethyst Radiotherapy Center in Krakow.

Vaccines are one of the most important achievements of modern medicine, and vaccinations are the most effective preventive measures that protect communities against infectious diseases. The vaccines currently used are safe, and post-vaccination complications are rare and can be treated effectively. The lack of vaccination means that at least 75% of the population will become infected with the coronavirus and most of these people will fall ill with COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic is on an unprecedented scale. Throughout the world, over 72 million people have fallen ill this year, including over a million in Poland. Official data also indicates over 1,6 million deaths, including over 23. people in Poland. This wave of illnesses is accompanied by intensive research by scientists around the world. Their pace and reliability are impressive. Scientists include: identified the pathogen responsible for COVID-19, and on January 11, 2020, they learned about its genetic material. From that moment on, work began on developing a vaccine against COVID-19.

Independent agencies that authorize medicinal products, including vaccines, for marketing play a special role in the process of verifying the safety of vaccinations. In the case of Europe, this is the European Medicines Agency (EMA) based in Amsterdam. In order to speed up work on a vaccine against COVID-19, EMA used a special procedure for the phased review of research results (rolling review), which involves assessing the incoming documentation on an ongoing basis. EMA also carries out detailed observational studies on the vaccination status, safety and effectiveness of vaccinations.

In Poland, vaccinations are planned to start in the first quarter of 2021. Vaccine against COVID-19 will be free and voluntary. The first doses (so-called stage 0 of vaccination) will be intended for people who are most at risk of infection (including health care sector workers, employees of social welfare homes and employees of municipal social welfare centers). Stage I will include, among others: people over 60 years of age, residents of social welfare homes and teachers.

Thanks to vaccinations:

  • vaccinated people in the vast majority of cases will not get COVID-19,
  • vaccinated people, even if they become infected, will have a mild illness,
  • vaccinated people will not infect others at all or, in rare cases, they will infect others to a lesser extent,
  • if we vaccinate universally, the epidemic will end.

Cancer patients should also get vaccinated.

- Oncology patients are at risk of severe complications after COVID-19, so vaccination is particularly important in their case. Individual issues can be discussed with your doctor, but I emphasize that cancer is not a contraindication to vaccination. – explains Dr Marcin Hetnał.

Before vaccination against COVID-19, a typical procedure will apply - each vaccinated person will undergo a medical consultation with a doctor.