MILANKO ŠEKLER: 'If someone thinks their life is worth £5, let them vie for discounts on Black Friday!'
"Black Friday is just ridiculous. If anyone thinks getting squished in lines and getting infected and ill, or getting into scuffles over 700-RSD discounts is more important than their life, then so be it. Everyone has a right to put a value on their own life in accordance with their views. If they value their life at five euros, then that's OK," the Kraljevo Veterinary Specialist Institute virologist Milanko Šekler, DVM, PhD, said in his interview with Kurir.
The break is over, all the students are back in school. Black Friday is coming up, and the season of family saint's day celebrations is upon us. Will we see a spike in the number of new infections in a couple of days?
"Thanks to the school break and the Covid passes, the number of new infections is down by a bit. However, a lot of people have in the meantime taken the third dose, and they're fully protected now. Lots of people have also started to get their first and second doses. Even with 500,000 or 600,000 registered infections in the past three months, there's fewer and fewer people who are unvaccinated or who haven't had the disease yet, so it makes sense that the number of new infections is starting to go down. That said, the fact that the numbers have dropped doesn't impress me much because the ICUs are full, there's people with severe forms of the disease everywhere, and the number of deaths hasn't dropped significantly. Also, when the weather gets colder, and people hang around indoors, if the measures aren't tightened, I'm sure the number of infections will go up."
Dramatically? Are we headed towards over 10,000 a day?
"This cannot be predicted because of an additional factor – the weather's been unusually nice these past couple of days, and there are lots of people outside and not indoors. Also, the coffeehouses and restaurants close mostly at 8 pm, when Covid passes go into effect, so people have had no other option than to stay at home, where there's the least risk of infection."
Christmas break from 15 December?
"School breaks and measures related to children are an efficient tool in the fight against the spread of the infection."
What about New Year's celebrations?
"Where people celebrate New Year's depends on the government's decisions. It's really very simple – 24-hour Covid passes and responsibility of the organizers of celebrations. Make sure you only have those vaccinated or tested there, or those who have had the disease, and if this isn't the case, shut the venue down for a period of one year."
There's pandemonium all across Europe. Are we in for the same thing with the Delta Plus strain?
"Delta Plus isn't what's caused it. The Delta strain is prevalent, and Delta Plus is only marginally different from it. The whole of Europe is entering the cold weather period of the year, when people spend more time indoors, and that's why there's pandemonium. The greatest increase in new infections has been recorded in countries where vaccination rates are at EU levels on average, i.e. around 65 percent, or below that average. In countries with vaccination rates at 83 to 84 percent, or up to 90 percent of the total population, such as Sweden and Portugal, there are no problems as big as all that."
Austria is going into lockdown and shutting down completely, and yet they have more vaccinated people than we do. We are at barely over 54 percent of adults, not the total population. From an expert's point of view, should we go into lockdown now, given all these data?
"Austrians are in a situation where a lockdown is the only way – they're below the EU average in terms of the number of vaccinations because they have a high level of migration. There are many foreign workers from all the countries of the former Yugoslavia there, as well as Bulgaria, Poland, Russia, migrants from Arab countries, Syria, etc. Most of those unvaccinated come from just these groups. As for the lockdown, I argued for it a month and a half ago, when we had 8,000 infections a day. Why should we bother now, when we're at 3,000? Wouldn't be fair."
So what should we do now? 3,000 is still quite high.
"Vaccination, vaccination, vaccination. In order to bump up the vaccination rate, Covid passes should be used around the clock everywhere, not just at coffeehouses and betting shops. What about football matches? I still think we ought to incentivize young people more by laptops, the internet, and similar things, which many countries are doing."
Austria has found a legal and constitutional basis for mandatory vaccination. We don't seem to be anywhere near finding one?
"I'm sure that any country that decides to have mandatory vaccination can find a legal basis for it. Countries that have introduced around-the-clock passes aren't dictatorships, but democratic states. This is a question for the government though."
Should we be afraid of Mu, i.e. the new coronavirus variant?
"No, all virus variants are divided into variants of concern, variants of interest, and variants under investigation. Mu is still under investigation, which is the lowest level, and it's only important from a professional standpoint. It absolutely shouldn't be a cause for concern for the general public. No other variant has appeared that is becoming prevalent and taking over from the Delta strain."
Will we get vaccinated every four or five months?
"That's anti-vaxxer nonsense. The thing about the third dose is that it's down to pure physiology – two vaccines and a booster shot that increases and extends the effect of the vaccine. Two doses in primary protection last four to six months, depending on the vaccine. The third dose increases and extends the protection level."
By how much?
"It's very irresponsible and silly to say that a fourth dose will follow the third after the same period of time. At the moment, we cannot say how long it will be, it needs to be established first."
Will corona be like a war and last four years? When will we have a truce?
"It'll end when both sides are ready for a truce. In order for the virus to be ready, over 83 percent of the population need to be vaccinated. The virus will agree to a truce under these terms. As for us, we must accept the fact that we need to get to 83 percent for the virus to start paying attention and talking to us."
So, face masks stay on next year as well?
"I still think this will end much sooner than everyone thinks."
When?
"When no less than 83 percent of the population have been vaccinated. The virus must be pressured by the vaccination, it must start adapting, stop causing grave problems – putting people in hospitals – while being around. It must be put in such circumstances."
How do we get the anti-vaxxers to come around?
"Anti-vaxxers are their own biggest problem. Everyone has the right to be stupid and not know anything. But their behaviour changes drastically when they get ill and end up in hospital."
What about doctors who are anti-vaxxers?
"I cannot believe that anyone with a medical degree can say that you shouldn't get vaccinated, that this is no more than a flu. I'd like for such people to admit followers when they get ill and treat them in their own way, not send them to a Covid hospital."
Kurir.rs/Jelena S. Spasić