In the coming period, he expects an increase in the number of people suffering from the coronavirus, but there is no need to panic because there will not be a dramatic situation like three and a half years ago.
Prof. said this in an interview for "Vijesti". Ph.D Zoran Radovanović, a retired epidemiologist. Commenting on the fact that new Eris and Fornix strains of the coronavirus have been registered in Montenegro, Radovanović explains that the subvariants, children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the Omikron variant are in question.
"The last two sub-variants are somewhat different, but they belong to Omicron. It causes milder symptoms than the Wuhan strain and Delta. Three years ago, we were a virgin, sensitive population, and in the meantime, most of them had succumbed to illness or been vaccinated. Therefore, we have natural or artificial immunity", explains Radovanović.
He reminds that Eris was created in February in China, and Fornix in July in Denmark, then Israel, Great Britain. He says that the speed with which new variants spread is being monitored, and statistics indicate that the disease is doubling slowly and that nothing dramatic will happen, although a slight increase in the number of patients is expected.
However, Radovanović points out that it is a systemic disease and that it is better not to get sick from covid because every new attack of the virus causes damage.
"Some patients get a 'long covid' accompanied by weakness, exhaustion, forgetfulness or 'brain fog'. We should take care, but not to the extent that we avoid all social contacts like at the beginning of the pandemic. Older than 65 years, chronic patients, people on immunosuppressive therapy, obese, diabetics, children on hemodialysis should be vaccinated," he says.
Radovanović concludes that there is no need to panic, but that we should be careful and aware that the virus will be here with us.
Almost half a million doses of the vaccine were destroyed
Yesterday, the Montefarm public institution of the Pharmacy of Montenegro told "Vijesta" that they have 147.618 booster doses of the vaccine Comirnaty Original/omicron BA 4-5, manufactured by Pfizer, and 99.949 doses of the Vero-Cell vaccine Sinofarm.
They answered that 479.398 doses have been destroyed since the start of vaccination against covid.
"We note that the destroyed vaccines were for the most part from donations that the public health system received during the previous three years", claim from "Montefarm".
In June, the National Expert Body on Immunization (NITAG) published new recommendations for vaccination of the population, for three priority levels. The high-priority group for vaccination includes older adults over 60 years of age, younger adults aged 18 to 59 years with significant comorbidities such as diabetes, heart and other organ system diseases and severe obesity, people with immunosuppressive conditions such as people with HIV and transplanted organs, including children over the age of six, pregnant women and frontline health workers. For that group, a booster dose of the vaccine is recommended at an interval of six to 12 months after the last dose.
The intermediate priority group for vaccination includes healthy adults aged 18 to 59 years without comorbidities, children and adolescents with comorbidities and severe obesity, for whom NITAG recommends primary vaccination series and one booster dose.
The low-priority group for vaccination is healthy children and adolescents from six months to 17 years.
IJZ: Respect the measures, the clinical picture is not more difficult
The Institute of Public Health (IJZ) announced yesterday that their laboratories confirmed the first cases of infection with substrains of the Omikron variant of the coronavirus, EG.5.1 (Eris) and FL1.5.1 (Fornix). They point out that in China, the USA, South Korea, Portugal and Spain there is an increase in cases of this virus and that they expect it to become dominant in Montenegro as well, as was the case with previous substrains.
"In the Eris and Fornix substrains, a mutation occurred in the spike protein, i.e. the part of the virus that facilitates the entry of the virus into the cell, and therefore these substrains can potentially avoid the immune response acquired by a previous natural infection or vaccination and cause increased transmission (lead to an increase in the number of patients) ", explain from IJZ.
They claim that the diagnostic tests, which are used in health institutions, recognize the newly registered substrains of the virus well for now.
They also emphasize that there is no evidence that new substrains cause significant changes in the severity of the clinical picture.
"That is, there is no evidence to support the fact that these two substrains of the virus can cause the appearance of more serious forms of the disease or an increase in mortality in infected persons compared to those caused by their more recent (previous) variants."
The IJZ appealed to citizens to respect the current measures, especially to wear protective masks in health care institutions and social and child welfare institutions. They remind that people infected with the coronavirus should wear a protective mask (N95 or FFP2) for seven days from the day of receiving a positive test result, while respecting general anti-epidemic measures, which is still in force as a strong recommendation.
Some patients get a 'long covid' accompanied by weakness, exhaustion, forgetfulness or 'brain fog'. We should take care, but not to the extent that we avoid all social contacts like at the beginning of the pandemic. Older than 65 years, chronic patients, people on immunosuppressive therapy, obese, diabetics, children on hemodialysis should be vaccinated"
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