As Iceland Warns Vaccines ‘Not Enough’ For Herd Immunity, Chris Fearne Plays Down Statement
Health Minister Chris Fearne has played down a recent statement by his Icelandic counterpart that herd immunity against COVID-19 can only be achieved if “as many people as possible” get infected with the virus.
As Fearne announced the easing of more COVID-19 measures yesterday, Lovin Malta asked him to respond to a statement made by Iceland’s Willum Þór Þórsson when he lifted all of Icelands’s restrictions.
“Widespread societal resistance to COVID-19 is the main route out of the epidemic,” the Icelandic health ministry said, citing infectious disease authorities.
It added that achieving widespread societal resistance, also referred to as “herd immunity”, “as many people as possible needed to be infected with the virus as the vaccines are not enough, even though they provide good protection against serious illness”.
However, Fearne insisted that he won’t quote “a single source” but the likes of the World Health Organisation, the ECDC, the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other international medicines agencies.
“They all recommend that immunity shouldn’t be built by getting infected with the virus, as that could lead to serious consequences and even deaths, but by getting vaccinated,” he said.
“The vaccine provides you with immunity, probably more than the virus even does, and it’s definitely much, much, much less risky than the virus.”
Malta officially reached herd immunity on 24th May 2021 but has continued imposing COVID-19 restrictions until as recently as 17th January this year.
However, it has been gradually loosening restrictions over the past month, with the latest set to be eased on 7th March.
On that date, vaccinated primary contacts of COVID-19 positive cases won’t have to quarantine at all and vaccinated people who test positive for the virus will be able to exit quarantine after seven days following a negative test.
Unvaccinated secondary contacts of COVID-19 positive cases won’t need to quarantine at all and unvaccinated primary contacts of COVID-19 positive cases will be able to exist quarantine after five days, down from two weeks, subject to a negative test.
Malta will also recognise vaccine certificates of vaccines approved by the WHO, even if they haven’t been approved by the European Medicines Agency. This includes vaccines like Covishield, Sinopharm and Sinovac.
The quarantine period for vaccinated travellers from ‘dark red’ countries will go down to seven days, down from ten and the 1am curfew for establishments will expire, meaning businesses will be able to stay open for as long as their license allows them.
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