Panagis Galiatsatos – The assessment of the John Hopkins professor for the end of the pandemic

The number of coronavirus cases has remained stable in five-digit numbers in recent days. The Omicron variant is more contagious and the cases went up dangerously, as during the holidays the people gathered in groups, as pointed out by Panagis Galiatsatos, professor of Pulmonology at John Hopkins University.

“We see a lot of people who have been vaccinated and received the booster dose, becoming infected and passed it just fine,” he said, adding that most hospitalized patients have not been vaccinated.

According to him, if someone who has taken the third dose becomes ill, he will pass the disease like a cold: “We can change something serious into something simpler, like a cold”.

Vaccines, the professor stressed, work in variants and the masks provide protection. According to his own assessment, he believes that in 6 to 8 months, ie around the summer, people will have got rid of the pandemic, however COVID will remain. The two tools that will put an end to the pandemic are vaccination and masks, so that hospitals are not “drowned” by treatment.

“We know the vaccine works if you have enough antibodies. If someone has been vaccinated and the months go by, the antibodies drop and if you catch the virus it can destroy you,” he said.

In addition, speaking to MEGA television, he stressed that those who have taken the third dose may not need to take a fourth dose.

Regarding children, he said that Omicron is expanding to these ages, as many children are contracting the disease and he recommended that we can have life, but with caution.

Mr. Galiatsatos is against the lockdown and in favor of informing the citizens: “I believe in the beginning the lockdown was needed, we did not know the biology of the virus. Two years have passed and we already know a lot. No lockdown needed, we need chat. “Man will stop the pandemic.”

In fact, the professor sounded the alarm, saying that if more people are not vaccinated, there is a high chance that a new mutation, worse than Omicron, will “spring up”.

Regarding the drugs against coronavirus, he stated that they are quite heavy: “The drugs are not simple, they are serious and they have many side effects, which for me I will not easily give to a patient. The side effects of the vaccines are few. The best antibodies we can get are those from vaccines,” he said.