The increase in the number of cases of illness with COVID is a certainty that is beginning to alarm both the authorities in Romania and in the world. While the Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila, is even talking about a spectacular increase in infections, and British doctors are warning about LONG COVID symptoms, we also have good news: those from Moderna have announced “revolutionary results” in the advanced stage of tests for the combined COVID-influenza vaccine.
21 Romanians sick with Covid-19 are in intensive care. Photo source: archive
We are in a time when the number of COVID infections is increasing from one week to the next. Minister Rafila even came up with some numbers: the official announced an increase from 2,000 to 3,400 cases at the last report. During a televised intervention, the official spoke about a new strain, but also about the fact that both vaccinated and non-immunized people can be affected by the infection. “The form of COVID which, at the moment, is a somewhat common infection in most people. It had a spectacular growth, indeed. A week ago we had about 2,000 cases, now we have 3,400, in the last report. We will probably grow for another two or three weeks until the receptive population is exhausted. There are no problems regarding beds, around 400 patients are hospitalized, of which approximately 21 are in Intensive Care“, said the Minister of Health.
“Vaccinated and non-vaccinated people are equally affected. It is a new strain, you see that this emergence in terms of the SARS-CoV-2 virus is extremely fast, the turnover is very fast, and the protection that the vaccine once offered is no longer an effective protection “, added the minister.
Simin Florescu, the manager of the “Victor Babeș” Hospital for Infectious Diseases, stated for “Adevărul” that indeed, the number of patients who present themselves daily to the emergency room has increased considerably. “There is no pandemic risk at the moment, but there are indeed more cases than before, when there were hardly any. About 10-15 people come to us daily in the emergency room with symptoms. Some of the patients remain hospitalized, some receive treatment at home. Those hospitalized are generally people who also suffer from other ailments, many of them chronic: chronic respiratory diseases, chronic heart diseases, neoplasms“. We are, says the manager from “Victor Babeș”, in front of an increase caused by vacations and holidays, when mobility is very high. “It’s something seasonal”.
The number of hospitalizations also increased at the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Iași. Currently, the manager of the unit, Dr. Florin Roșu, told us, 32 patients are hospitalized here.
COVID-19, the disease that, if it doesn’t kill you, makes you stupid
Even so, there is no need to panic yet, say our specialists, but, on the other hand, doctors urge us to protect ourselves. “We should follow the same pattern as during the pandemic. The preventive measures are nothing other than those we already know. The mask, when we come into contact with a sick person, who coughs or sneezes. Or when we go to a place where we could get sick: polyclinics, emergency rooms, medical offices, hospitals where there are sick people, etc. But hand washing remains, by far, the most effective method of prevention. We all know: dirty hands spread germs.” Dr. Emilian Popovici, vice-president of the Romanian Society of Epidemiology, stated for “Adevărul”.
Of course, an infection with SARS-CoV-2 can lead, in the case of certain people, to the so-called LONG COVID syndrome. We are talking about the long-term effects of the disease, effects that are mainly observed from a neurological point of view. According to “The Guardian”, specialists from Oxford found that many patients suffered from certain cognitive problems for two, even three years after healing. These include depression, anxiety, fatigue and brain fog.
Scientists studied LONG COVID symptoms in 475 people hospitalized before vaccines were available and currently cured. The outcome? Cognitive tests showed that, on average, the patients’ IQ was 10 points lower than expected based on age, education and other factors. Moreover, one in nine people has a severe cognitive deficit, which equates to an IQ 30 points lower than expected. “More than one in four people in the study changed their occupation after contracting the virus, often because they could no longer cope with the cognitive demands of their job.”said Dr. Max Taquet, an author of the study from the University of Oxford.
Questionnaires filled out by participants showed that many felt moderate to severe levels of depression (47%), fatigue (40%) and anxiety (27%) for two to even three years after contracting COVID. Even more troubling is that instead of improving over time, the symptoms have gotten progressively worse. Practically, their intensity increased, and the peak was registered after two or three years after infection. “What we already knew before doing the study was that COVID-19 was associated with a higher risk of cognitive problems, depression and anxiety compared to other respiratory infections.”said Dr. Max Taquet. “We found that in our cohort there was a substantial neuropsychiatric burden for two to three years.”
The paper, published in Lancet Psychiatry, led the authors to emphasize the importance of early diagnosis and management of LONG COVID symptoms to reduce the risk of people developing a more complex disorder. According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of people suffering from COVID continues to rise, with 2 million people in England and Scotland now showing symptoms.
The combined COVID-19 – flu vaccine triggers a strong immune response
All this time, Moderna specialists are working intensively on a new combined flu-COVID vaccine. And a few days ago they announced “breakthrough results” in the advanced stage of the tests. The results were good even in the case of people aged 65 or older who participated in the study.
Moderna’s chief medical affairs officer, Francesca Ceddia, told CNN that people in the study who received the combination vaccine had an improved immune response compared to those who received the flu and COVID vaccines alone.
Specifically, Moderna’s Phase 3 study tested the vaccine in two different age groups, with approximately 4,000 adults in each age group. The experts compared the immune response of adults 65 and older who received the combined vaccine with the response of another group in the same age range who received an anti-Covid vaccine – Spikevax – and an improved flu vaccine, Fluzone HD . The second part of the study involved testing adults between the ages of 50 and 64. The first group received the combination vaccine, mRNA-1083, and the second group, in the same age group, received the Spikevax vaccine and then a standard-dose flu vaccine called Fluarix.
The results of the study showed that in both age groups, the combination vaccine elicited a stronger immune response against three strains of influenza and against COVID-19, compared to the vaccines given together.
In general, older people don’t have as robust a response to vaccines as younger people, CNN notes. “When we think of the combination vaccine, we often think only of the convenience element, one jab instead of two, but what is really innovative is that we have clinical benefits in addition to this advantage.”Cedia said.
In terms of safety, the combined vaccine was well tolerated, Moderna reported, and adverse reactions included pain at the injection site, fatigue, muscle aches and headaches. Basically, nothing out of the ordinary.
