Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Shed false sense of security as risks are high

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The patient felt the heaviness of time and gradually became unable to distinguish between night and day. He saw things with his heart, not his eyes, during the nights at the hospital and he said to himself: I am still between life and death. This is how in reality some patients with the coronavirus (Covid-19) tell their story about their sufferings and anxiety about death.


Meanwhile, the pandemic continues to spread in many parts of the world, while threatening large sections of highly-vaccinated countries, including some of their most vulnerable citizens. In fact, it is still a common societal problem, where such virus continues to mutate. It may not evolve to be transmitted remotely through open spaces or make its way through masks. However, the Sultanate, as is the case with various countries, is doing its best to obtain and distribute the vaccine, even though most citizens or residents still have not received their first dose and despite the possibility of it being less than community immunity (herd immunity). I believe that at such a point, instead of asking ‘How do we end the epidemic?’ we should ask, ‘What level of risk can we take?’ or perhaps, ‘Who bears this risk?’.


In a way, this pandemic has made it clear that the world is exposed to infectious diseases and we must normalise the idea of precaution always and forever, as we see in other countries that faced similar epidemics. This leads us to emphasise that giving incentives to vaccinate now is vital. After easing of some important preventive measures or after receiving one or two doses of the vaccine, it is foolishness to be lax in observing caution. How can we tacitly support some individuals’ opinion that preventive measures are burdens and people need to move away from them to return to a ‘normal’ situation!


What I mean here is that during this pandemic the person who bears all personal responsibility may still be affected by the lack of safety and hygiene precautions. They have been vaccinated, but they may catch the disease by working in a grocery store among people who do not adhere to health precautions or do not wear masks...and it was!


Here, there is no doubt that an individual’s choices can affect his family, his village and his city; a sick person can spread infection everywhere. On the other hand, the odds of each person contracting the disease depends on the choices of each person around him. Certainly, if you have not been vaccinated yet or are waiting for your turn to be immunised, your health is in your hands! However, since we are now aware that vaccines have become a collective solution to infectious diseases, especially if enough people are immune, epidemics will end on their own. And even if we don’t achieve community immunity, vaccines will provide a measure of collective protection and make people less likely to spread the virus to each other. In rare cases in which fully vaccinated people develop a sudden infection, it is milder and for a shorter period of time.


My biggest concern is that those who are not vaccinated will have a false sense of security. You may think the threat has completely diminished if this is in the news, but if you haven’t been vaccinated and contracted this virus, your risk is still high. Perhaps unvaccinated people are less likely to encounter an infectious person, but in every such encounter, their odds of contracting coronavirus are greater than they were last year. And in a sense we know how this will end, but who will take the remaining risks?


Dr Yousuf Ali al Mulla, MD, Ministry of Health, is a medical innovator and educator. For any queries regarding the content of the column he can be contacted at: dryusufalmulla@gmail.com


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