Virologist, Prof. Dr. dr. I Gusti Ngurah Kade Mahardika said that the effectiveness of vaccination in several countries has proven to be quite successful in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. According to him, the control of the pandemic in several countries is also in line with the wide enough vaccination coverage.
“In the UK where vaccination coverage is above 50% and America above 40%, COVID-19 cases have dropped by an extraordinary rate. In early January 2021, cases in the UK rose to 70,000, now only 2,000-3,000 cases per day,” explained Prof. Mahardika in a written statement, Thursday (3/6/2021).
“Reflecting on vaccinations for health workers in Indonesia, whose coverage is close to 100% for the second dose, cases of COVID-19 have decreased significantly compared to before vaccination,” he added.
He assessed that the pandemic would soon be ended by vaccination, of course with coverage above 50% of the population, especially if it reached more than 70%. However, Prof. Mahardika said that if the vaccination coverage in Indonesia has exceeded 50 percent, health protocols should not be relaxed. The health protocol in question is the 3M protocol which includes wearing masks, maintaining distance, and washing hands.
“Because wearing a mask, for example, will prevent us from infectious diseases, not only COVID-19 but also influenza and other diseases,” he said.
He said that as of Wednesday (2/6) vaccinations in Indonesia had covered a total of 27.6 million doses or reached 6%.
“Even though it’s still 6%, maybe we can collect data on teachers and public officials who have been vaccinated, whether the data on morbidity or mortality has decreased. If that happens, then once the 50% figure is reached, or ideally 70%, is achieved then we can said the pandemic was under control,” said Prof. Mahardika.
Furthermore, Prof. Mahardika gave an example of how herd immunity was formed during the previous pandemic.
“There was a pandemic called the Spanish Flu. Indonesia was also affected, but at that time there was no vaccine. What happened was that the pandemic lasted three years and ended with herd immunity. So immunity is caused by the transmission of the virus itself,” he explained.
In addition, he also mentioned another major pandemic, namely the H1N1 Flu in 2009 which according to him ended because of the creation of herd immunity.
“But it’s a mild (mild) pandemic. It spreads very quickly throughout the world, but it doesn’t cause severe clinical symptoms and then also ends because of natural herd immunity,” said Prof. Mahardika.
He assessed that herd immunity, both natural and artificial, would make the COVID-19 pandemic under control more quickly.
“The assumption is that without a vaccine it will be 3 years, so with a vaccine in 1.5 years it’s over. Once again I hope that the vaccine will cause us to get out of the grip of this pandemic,” said Prof. Mahardika.
(mul/up)
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