“They didn't have to die”, doctors say at the moment about every patient whose death was due to Covid-19 or a worsening of chronic disease. Chronic disease patients have had the opportunity to vaccinate against Covid-19 since winter. Stradiņš hospital infectologist Uga Dumpis said that there were no Covid-19 patients in the reanimation section who have been vaccinated.
Haralds Plaudis, board member of the Riga East Clinical University Hospital (RAKUS), said that this autumn it was possible to prevent the deaths of people which could not be prevented last year when vaccines were not available. Wait for autumn and get vaccinated then - that is the most foolish thing to do, Plaudis said.
“The virus is circulating and doesn't go away. And it won't go away, so we shouldn't wait for autumn. Infections can be defeated preventively. Summer is an ideal period when we are blessed with the weather and have more time,” Plaudis said.
Dumpis estimated that there were one to two months left to allow enough people to get vaccinated:
“Latvia already has this delta or India variant. We see Britain struggling, trying to reach out to the last ones as the number of cases rises. We have a state of emergency. This is one of the reasons why vaccination should be carried out as soon as possible. The second schools open in the autumn, the number of cases will increase because children have not been vaccinated. It takes a month plus two weeks to complete the vaccination.”
The two doctors said that if fewer than 70 percent of the population were vaccinated, decisions on closing establishments and living remotely would have to be taken again in the autumn.
“Nothing will change, Covid will be back in the fall! We already have five patients in artificial lung ventilation today. An average of six die every day, and in the fall [the number] will rise,” Dumpis said.