These days, Romania is emerging from the 10th wave of the COVID-19 epidemic. It is a wave dominated by a family of variants derived from the JN.1 strain (a descendant of BA.2.86 “Pirola”), against which the immune protection acquired after vaccination or XBB infection drops below 50%, says doctor Octavian Jurma.
Covid-19 causes more victims than the flu PHOTO: Archive
In June of this year, the expert gave an interview to “Adevărul”, in which he drew attention that “we are at the beginning of a new wave of COVID-19 and we estimate that the peak of this wave will be recorded in August”.
According to the graph attached to the image (influenza is in blue, COVID in red), the 10th wave of COVID-19 in Romania had a peak of 5,515 new cases in mid-August, according to the forecast.
“So far, the new wave of COVID-19 (wave 10-JN.1) has officially produced more than 46,000 new cases and killed 227 Romanians, since its debut in May. In reality, the numbers are much higher. However, the only epidemic that the Minister of Health, Mr. Alexandru Rafila (PSD), is still talking about is the flu epidemic. Regarding the epidemic of COVID-19, the Ministry of Health has given up publishing the weekly reports, and those now published by the CNSCBT no longer contain essential statistical data, especially those related to hospitalization. How many new flu cases have we had in the same period? 0 (zero)! How many flu deaths did we have during the same period? 0 (zero)!”writes Jurma.
COVID-19 kills more people than the flu!
The specialist says that the flu epidemic will start this month, however, and kills around 100 people every season. It is important that Romanians can avoid hospitalization and death by vaccination against the flu.
“The promotion of flu vaccination is perfectly justified by a government responsible for the life and health of Romanians, even if no one is dying of flu now. But if the government and the Ministry of Health take natural preventive measures for a disease that kills 100 Romanians annually, then why don’t they do the same, or more, for a disease that continues to kill over 1,200 Romanians every year? We can see from the graph that even during the peak of the flu epidemic, COVID-19 kills more people than the flu: 10 times more in the 2022-2023 annual season and 6 times more in the 2023-2024 season. By any measure – medical, humanitarian or economic – COVID-19 is a far more serious threat than the flu,” warns Octavian Jurma.
The doctor says he got into the situation “we hear nothing about prevention through vaccination against severe forms of COVID-19 and we only hear about the flu?”because of the “political war”.
“Unfortunately, the decision to leave Romanians without protection against a disease 10 times worse than the flu is strictly politically motivated“says Jurma.
The specialist also presented the proof. The updated XBB vaccine against COVID-19 was approved in August 2023, but became available in Romania only in January 2024, with zero promotion and very low accessibility.
“During this interval, in which the Minister of Health repeatedly spoke against the vaccine, almost 100,000 Romanians fell ill with COVID-19 and almost 500 died. The vaccine could have saved many Romanians from hospitalization and death, if the Ministry of Health had provided them with timely access to the vaccine. No one is legally and politically responsible for the sacrifice of these lives”emphasizes the doctor.
The EU has authorized a new vaccine
On Thursday, October 9, 2024, the European Union also authorized the updated anti-JN.1 version of the NOVAVAX COVID vaccine. It is a vaccine against COVID-19 developed by the American company Novavax, based on a different technology than that used in vaccines based on messenger RNA (such as Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) or viral vector (AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson).
According to Jurma, the Novavax vaccine uses recombinant protein-based technology. Called Nuvaxovid in some countries, based on recombinant protein technology and using the Matrix-M adjuvant, it provides immunity against COVID-19 by stimulating an immune response to the spike protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
“Matrix-M adjuvant is a compound derived from an extract of the Quillaja saponaria tree. The adjuvant helps boost the immune response by increasing antibody production and immune cell activation. The Novavax vaccine is stable at standard refrigeration temperatures (2-8°C), which facilitates transport and storage compared to messenger RNA vaccines, which require more stringent storage conditions.” claims Octavian Jurma, in a post on Facebook.
The protein-based technology is well known and has been used in the development of other vaccines, such as those for hepatitis B and influenza, providing an important alternative to those who have strong reservations about messenger RNA technology.
“We therefore currently have three versions of the updated JN.1 COVID-19 vaccine authorized in the European Union for vaccination from 6 months of age”says the specialist.
According to the WHO, several studies have shown that the JN.1 variant of SARS-CoV-2 is more immune-evasive than other Omicron subvariants, such as EG.5 or XBB.1.5, and the decrease in neutralization is significant, but many people retain some protection.
Immunity acquired after infection or vaccination with a monovalent XBB.1.5 booster has an estimated efficacy of between 19% and 49% in preventing symptomatic infection with the JN.1 variant. SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells are also predicted to provide a conserved response against the BA.2.86 variant as well.
“The JN.1 variant family is now completely dominant in Romania as well, according to the latest available sequencing data, which makes vaccination with an updated booster against JN.1 very important here as well. There is also the advantage of coupling a COVID vaccination campaign with the flu vaccination campaign, because the two vaccines can be administered simultaneously at the same doctor’s visit. However, none of the three vaccines authorized by the European Medicines Agency are and will not be found in Romania due to the anti-vaccination state policy of the current PSD-PNL governing coalition,” accuses the specialist.
Why Romania does not have a vaccine against COVID
From the point of view of health, claims Octavian Jurma, Romania has already left the common European space without anyone in power asking for our consent by voting in a referendum.
“I would be extremely curious what answer the Minister of Health, Mr. Alexandru Rafila, will give if the press asks him why we do not have an anti-COVID vaccine in Romania, given that the threat of COVID is much greater and more present than that of the flui”, emphasizes Octavian Jurma.
This new version of the vaccine could be easily accessed by Romania, without additional costs compared to the 2021 contract, says Octavian Jurma, if the Minister of Health, Mr. Alexandru Rafila, had signed in 2023, like the rest of the European Union countries, the amendments to the 2021 contract instead of unilaterally terminating it.
“Our government’s refusal to order more vaccine is, therefore, explicitly a refusal to allow Romanian citizens to protect their health and lives in the face of a clear and imminent threat”concludes Jurma.
