The virologist of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), Margarita del Val, is one of the most authoritative voices in Spain to speak about the coronavirus pandemic and has become one of the most recognizable faces during the health crisis. In an interview with Medical Writing analyzes what happened in the last year and what is yet to come, and in which it warns that, against diseases, infections such as Covid-19, “we believed that we were absolutely invulnerable like Superman “.
“The success of vaccines is that we have been vaccinating our children since the mid-twentieth century and that is why we believe that infectious diseases did not exist,” he says. And it is that, in his opinion, vaccines have seen their image damaged, victims of their own success, because “When prevention is successful, it disappears from view”. At a political level, he argues, “it is difficult to sell the message of prevention”, the same happens at the individual level, because “each one is that it is very difficult if you are not a specialist to realize how important prevention is”.
Del Val also predicts when “we can be calm” in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic: “when all those people who are high-risk groups are vaccinated, either by age or by suffering from chronic diseases that can worsen the severity of the coronavirus.” In addition, it warns that “the vaccines we have now do not protect against infection, therefore, they are protecting only the vaccinated person ”.
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The vaccine, a “drastic advantage” against Covid
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“With a less effective vaccine instead of mild symptoms you have moderate symptoms” |
In fact, the CSIC virologist points out that with vaccines it is difficult to determine if the spikes of infections will decrease, since still “We do not know what the asymptomatic infection of those vaccinated is like.” Therefore, in the coming months, the expert will reduce the number of deaths and serious cases.
When asked which of the currently available Covid vaccines generates the most confidence, Del Val is emphatic “None.” “What all of them do is shift the severity of the infection to more favorable situations, that is, all those who could vaccinate without the vaccine would now develop moderate or only mild symptoms”. “It is a drastic advantage”.
Regarding the efficacy of the doses, he maintains that “with a less effective vaccine instead of mild symptoms you have moderate symptoms, or maybe if they are asymptomatic they have mild symptoms ”. This results in a health impact that is “acceptable” for the system and that reveals that all vaccines “are just as good.”
In this sense, Del Val has insisted that the risk of people over 80 and 90 years of age “is about 30 times greater than the risk of people, for example, my age (he was born in 1959), in a range of average old”. “In turn, mine is 30 times higher than that of children and young people,” he explained.
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Although it may contain statements, data or notes from health institutions or professionals, the information contained in Medical Writing is edited and prepared by journalists. We recommend that the reader be consulted with any health-related question with a healthcare professional.
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