Dumpis: Booster 'absolutely necessary' during Omicron spread

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As the situation changes due to the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, the booster shot is 'absolutely necessary', infectologist Uga Dumpis told Latvian Television December 16.

Dumpis said that the burden on hospitals was mostly caused by unvaccinated seniors, namely people over the age of 60 who had not received any vaccine. Although the hospital load has normalized, more than 500 Covid patients are still in hospitals.

According to Eva Juhņēviča, head of the National Health Service's Vaccination project department, there are currently 54 thousand seniors in the country who have not received any jabs against Covid-19 so work is ongoing to address and encourage them to be vaccinated.

Dumpis drew attention to the fact that the flu could be spread more widely this year. In Sweden, there are already a relatively large number of influenza A patients in hospitals. Consequently, it would be important to vaccinate against this virus. The Covid-19 vaccine and the flu vaccine can be received at the same time. 

A total of more than 500 000 people have access to Covid-19 booster, Juhņēviča said.

Dumpis urged people to evaluate all contacts in the context of the upcoming holidays in terms of the forthcoming Christmas, called on people to assess each contact and only meet people with whom it is absolutely necessary. In his opinion, family members can be in contact with each other, but provided that "grandma and grandpa are vaccinated three times".

 

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