“If the next wave of coronavirus appears, it will happen at the turn of the year at the earliest. This will also coincide with the spike in flu cases in January-February”, said Health Minister Adam Niedzielski on Thursday.

According to the head of the health ministry, if one understands the end of a pandemic as zero cases of illness and new infections, such a situation will not occur for a very long time yet. The minister pointed out that if we are talking about the end of ailments that block our social, economic life, “we are indeed approaching the moment when we can say that – thanks to vaccinations, medicines that are also slowly appearing – we have this situation under control”.

“Now we are talking about a completely different scale of the phenomenon and in this respect the pandemic is no longer a huge threat to the capacity of the health system,” said the minister.

Referring to the decreasing interest in subsequent doses of vaccination against COVID-19, Niedzielski recalled that 22 million people in Poland underwent the basic vaccination scheme, 12 million were vaccinated with the third dose, and 2 million people have been vaccinated with the fourth dose so far.

“Above all, psychological factors have an impact and they correspond to the level of risk. Even in the scientific methodology of vaccination, the risk versus benefit is always assessed. This risk is clearly decreasing at the moment, because the threat is lower, but on the other hand, none of us can say that it won’t hit him”, the Health Minister pointed out.

He also highlighted that there is no obstacle to being vaccinated against COVID-19 and against seasonal flu.

„If there is another wave, the earliest it will occur is at the turn of the year, which means a perspective of 2-3 months. And this is the best time to take this vaccination. It also coincides with the spike in flu cases, around January-February. Now it is really the optimal time to take up these vaccinations”, assessed Niedzielski.
Arkadiusz Słomczyński