Experts agree getting jab will hasten return to normality

Since the start of spring, temperatures are becoming warmer and Covid fatigue will probably be at an all-time high, with people yearning to get back to normality.

The University of the Free State (UFS) recently held the fifth thought-leader webinar with experts from various fields and discussed the importance of vaccinating, mandatory vaccinations and what it would take to return to normality.

President and CEO of the South African Medical Research Council Professor Glenda Gray said not only could vaccinations ease the pressure in hospitals, but universities could also benefit from vaccinations by being able to control the academic year.

“By vaccinating you impact on isolation and quarantine challenges,” she said.

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“If you have good coverage of vaccinations, institutions won’t have to keep closing their doors and hospitals will not have an overwhelming number of patients.

“The important thing is to gain control of the academic year.

“All the universities have suffered and moved their learning online, where a lot of students don’t have the luxury and privilege of having Wi-Fi or data available to them all the time.”

Gray said although hybrid learning would still take place, students in institutions required interaction with their lecturers.

“There are a lot of mental health issues and the reason why we go to university is for an experience that makes us well-rounded human beings,” she said.

Acting executive director of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases Professor Adrian Puren said achieving herd immunity was important as a start to making progress.

“Herd immunity is about the indirect effect of protecting individuals who are susceptible.

“It’s a particular threshold of numbers of people that have immune responses which will protect the community at large.

“An example is when we looked at the coronavirus in terms of its R value, the number of individuals that are infected through one individual, which ranged from two to three,” said.

Puren added there were certain factors which made achieving herd immunity difficult.

“The herd immunity threshold is about 67%. However, it is not a straightforward as that.

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“What has complicated herd immunity discussions is various factors: the virus itself is spread through airborne transmission which circulate at great distance for a period of time.

“The variants have also contributed to the complications of herd immunity.

“Wit the delta variant, which is highly transmissible, the R value could range between seven and 10,” he said.

Head of the Covid task team for the Universitas Academic Hospital Dr Nicholas Pearce said the first step was to vaccinate.

“It is critical we get vaccinated if we want things like attend soccer games, rugby games and other live events,” he said.

“Also, the pandemic is taking a toll mentally. We have seen suicide and depression go up.”

– asandam@citizen.co.za