“What is herd immunity? We can at least reduce mortality” - Lviv epidemiologist
In Ukraine, we first need to stop the wave of severe cases and deaths from coronavirus infection, and only then use the vaccine to create herd immunity in the country.
Oksana Pushkareva, an expert at the epidemiological department of health protection at the LOGA, stated this on air on the NTA TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“What do we want from vaccination? First of all, not herd immunity, we want to reduce the number of severe cases and the number of deaths. This is the main thing we want to achieve at the moment,” said Pushkareva.
She emphasized that, first of all, doctors and teachers should be vaccinated, and only then will they begin to vaccinate older people, among whom the highest mortality rate is observed.
“That’s why we start with doctors, because doctors are the group that has a large circle of friends, teachers go to the second stage, just like primary doctors, doctors in non-Covid hospitals, and then in the spring, if we’re talking about the population, then we start with the oldest and go down.
Why from the oldest? Because they make up the largest proportion of severe cases and deaths. This is what we want, if we say what we want to achieve with vaccination. And later, when we overcome all this, we will talk about herd immunity. The first, main task is human life,” the expert explained.
English version :: Read in English: "What herd immunity? We should at least reduce mortality" – Lviv epidemiologist