ASTRAZENECA VACCINE

Lingering doubts jeopardise the collective effort to build a wall of immunity. They also fuel the current of vaccine deniers and conspiracy theorists who dispute science and reason.

Five post-vaccination thrombosis cases in Greece (especially the death of a woman that was deemed the result of a side effect) aggravated existing anxieties about vaccines and their side effects.

Most people were pleasantly surprised that an age group that was clearly suffering from lockdown fatigue was rushing to be vaccinated with a vaccine [AstraZeneca] viewed as a “left-over”.

Mass vaccination is the only way to get beyond the pandemic and a gradual return to normalcy will require vaccination of 60-70 percent of the population, with all approved, available vaccines.

While Europe has some of the best-resourced healthcare systems in the world, the sheer scale of the effort means some countries are calling on retired medics to help while others have loosened rules for who is allowed to give the injections.