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PROF. TODOR KANTARDZHIEV
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“With 30% fully vaccinated, 700,000 with a booster dose, with 50% immunized in the capital, we may have achieved a pretty good collective immunity.” This was stated by Prof. Todor Kantardjiev to the Bulgarian National Radio.
He noted that currently mostly booster doses and a very small percentage of the first dose of vaccine are given. The number of newly infected people in the country in the most affected districts has started to decrease, and this is most visible in the districts of Blagoevgrad and Sofia-city. Recently, the number of newly infected people in Varna and Eastern Bulgaria is decreasing at a slower pace. This has led to a reduction in the pressure on hospitals, as I monitor these processes daily for medical institutions in the capital, said Prof. Kantardzhiev.
There has also been a decline in the number of coronavirus deaths in the country throughout the week. And data show that in areas where vaccination coverage is higher, mortality is lower, he added.
Omicron virus variant was found in 605 (96.3%) clinical trials, 521 of which were subvariant (BA.1 or BA.1.1) and 84 (BA.2). The hospitalization for omicron is 8-12%, and for BA 2 the sub-variant of Omicron is only below 1.3%, according to the latest data from the NCIPD analysis.
And the so-called variant of omicron – BA.2 turns out to be not as dangerous as we were warned and scared, this variant is much easier, said Prof. Kantardzhiev.
“This is how the philosophy of the genetically developed pandemic virus was proven – to spread faster, to become more sticky, to infect faster, but to be milder as a disease. So, I expect it to become endemic.” , he explained.
The epidemiologist pointed out that the omicron variant has passed through a large part of the Bulgarian population, but according to him, children and people with boosters have had an easier time.
There is another problem with the good outcome of the disease, as in the Delta variant and the Wuhan variant, in the elderly, in people with chronic diseases who have not been vaccinated yet. And they were not the subject of an intensified information campaign that they should be vaccinated. That is why such patients are now in hospital again, as in the previous waves, said Prof. Kantardzhiev.
According to him, there is very little chance of a new mutation of omicron in the future, unless there is a genetic change leading to immune escape.
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