Government response ‘slow and Risky,’ but vaccine is very safe

THE Government’s attempts to control coronavirus have been too slow and ‘risky’, according to a communicable disease expert.

Dr Bharat Pankhania, a lecturer at the University of Exeter Medical School, says upscaling the roll out of the vaccination as quickly as possible is more important than ever, in light of the trouble experienced with the tiers system.

And he added that the vaccine should be just as effective against the new variant of Covid, even if it is more infectious.

Dr Bharat said: “Our leaders are slow at implementing control measures. We must do better.

“Allowing people to get together, even for one day, over Christmas is a risky activity. Our hope lies with delivering a vaccines programme, immunising people as soon as possible.

“With new variant of #SARSCoV2, it is unlikely that vaccines will not be effective against the new variant. It may be more infectious, luckily it is not more severe disease causing.

“Continue with good infection controls, wear a mask properly.”

The roll-out of the new coronavirus vaccine is now well underway in the UK, but experts say 70 per cent of the population need to be vaccinated to eradicate the virus.

Some believe achieving herd immunity could be difficult because there is mistrust in the vaccine among many people, as well as a distrust in science and the government.

Fears have been raised among the public over how quickly the vaccine has been developed and approved, and that although it is not compulsory to be vaccinated, life may become difficult for those who choose not to have

it. Dr Pankhania, Exeter University’s communicable disease and public health expert, has laid to rest some of the myths and concerns raised about coronavirus vaccines and their rapid deployment.

Dr Bharat has assured vaccines – a regulated, monitored product with exacting quality control standards – save lives.

He insisted the nanoparticle mRNA vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna and the vector vaccine from AstraZeneca-Oxford University are marvels of technology and science, and to expect further advances in treating other diseases because of this technology. Talking on RT News,

Dr Bharat insisted the vaccine has not been rushed through. “In this case this was a global effort, a global pandemic and it became a bottomless pit of money. Money was released to do a lot of the tests as quickly as possible with the funding available.”