Ex-Minister of Health of Ukraine: vaccination must be continued!
Olga Musafirova, Komsomolskaya Pravda in Ukraine"
Ex-Minister of Health Yuri Spizhenko: "The scandalous measles vaccine was imported into the country legally."
Don't be afraid of the Indian vaccine!
– Today I am not a government official. To suspect me of lobbying the position of the Ministry of Health is pointless. But I am ready to say with responsibility: the vaccine meets the quality standards.
– What is your confidence based on? After all, the drug was sent for additional research after everything that happened. So there are doubts?
– About 120 thousand vaccinations have been successfully done in the country. And there is a tragic case in Kramatorsk, which the whole of Ukraine now knows about. He knows in the interpretation: "Vaccination killed the student."
Although it is clear to professionals: it is not the sanitary service that is to blame for this death, but the emergency service. The boy was not at home, but in the hospital, and for several hours! If he had been given proper attention, he would have survived. Provided, of course, that the child did not have congenital malformations and serious organic pathology.
– It is already being told almost authoritatively that the Indian vaccine competed in the tender with the American and French. However, she came to us "by the blat" and caused trouble. Such is the injection of corruption… Does it look like the truth?
– Ukraine didn't buy anything. And in this case, no one profited from this procedure. We got the drug for free from the World Health Organization.
Why are the arrows being switched now? Why do the media, as they say, trumpet a dangerous vaccine in one pipe? Don't be offended – this is provocative journalism. No one wants to think about what will happen if vaccination is canceled – so to speak, at the request of an outraged people.
– And what will happen?
– What happened before Louis Pasteur – take a look at the textbook on infectious diseases. In thirty years, half of Europe will remain... In 1964 in the United States - not in Albania, not in Iran, in a highly developed and prosperous country! – 1 million 800 cases of rubella have been registered. Well, democratic norms did not allow to impose vaccination on citizens! And after a certain period of time, rubella "turned out" to be 20 thousand cases of pathologies in newborns. And it became a real nightmare on a national scale.
Measles and rubella epidemics can "mow down" the country– You know, Olga, perhaps such a proposal will seem cynical, but let's compare the risks: what losses can there be from vaccinations and what – without them?
With all my heart I sympathize with the mother of the deceased young man. But this death should not lead to an epidemic breaking out in the country, which will take hundreds, thousands of lives. Let me reason now as a layman. I want healthy people around me, my children and grandchildren, and not potential carriers of infection. And you?..
– A rhetorical question.
– Then – about an important moment, a medical classic. Vaccinations are supposed to be done in a short time, within three weeks. The sooner the vaccination takes place, the fewer intermediate hosts of the virus appear. That is, both you and I, and everyone around us, are already "too tough for him." Antibodies have been developed. Protection has been created.
– Yuriy Prokofievich, is there really such a threatening epidemiological situation in Ukraine now in the sense of measles and rubella? Maybe it makes sense to pause? Parents who are already ready to hide their children from "lethal injections" will calm down, and the medical staff will be stressed out…
– Wait? Let's remember 2006. A couple of tens of thousands of people were ill with measles then, five deaths. In 2002, for the same reason, there were eleven deaths. Encephalitis, which is often complicated by rubella, gives fifty percent of mortality. That's what we need to remind you about – but not in order to intimidate, but in order for people to take vaccination responsibly, enlightened. I confess that I am concerned about the lack of a voiced position of Minister Vasily Knyazevich on this issue!
Our medicine is sick with politics– Apparently, Knyazevich does not want to repeat the experience of the first deputy minister Nikolai Prodanchuk.
He was just actively advocating for vaccinations, but he was still removed from office, and they are also going to judge…
I took Prodanchuk from Chernivtsi to the Ministry of Health. Nikolai is eight years younger than me, a creative person with ideas, which is very valuable in our orthodox professional environment. He is a well-known scientist, a worthy director of the Institute of Toxicology. And after five months of work as the chief sanitary doctor of Ukraine falls under investigation… What is his fault and is there any? From my point of view, it's not Prodanchuk here, but the bureaucratic system that appointed him to the post is to blame.
Well, it is impossible to "throw" Prodanchuk in the full sense of the word on this site! He hasn't been a sanitary doctor for a day! But after all, the principle of political, not professional expediency triumphs in our country, do you understand? "The team has come to power – we will place our team players in key positions." This is how failures like the current one are programmed.
– Why did the honest scientist Prodanchuk agree to sit in the wrong sleigh?
(Long pause.) – Can you name many people who are giving up their careers now? Okay, let's be honest. Are planes falling? Are there a lot of accidents on the roads? Are the mines exploding? And the ministers of transport and coal industry are still at large…
– Do you think they just appointed the last one? "An enemy of the people", "a killer in a white coat"? The authorities found the culprit of the tragic cases, who was negligent in his official duties…
– Absolutely. Prodanchuk got into the political millstones. "Who is behind it? An ordinary medic? The figure is small – you can sacrifice. But we will show how worried we are about the health of children."
I repeat once again: vaccination must be continued! According to the Ministry of Health, the strain of immunity against measles and rubella (so many people are able to resist these diseases. – author's note) is noted in about 80 percent of the population. Really, I think, no more than 70 percent. This is a consequence of preventive measures that have been carried out in the past years. Immunity will quickly weaken without regular routine vaccinations.
But vaccination should be preceded by a powerful explanatory campaign. It cannot be hidden: any vaccination gives a reaction, the introduction of an antigen causes the production of antibodies. At the same time, doctors must be ready to provide qualified assistance if the reaction is more pronounced. Not just pricked – and free! Observe patients, have drugs on hand that do not allow anaphylactic shock to develop. What else is important to inform people about? Rubella is especially dangerous for girls. In a number of countries, there are age groups: 14-15 years or even 9-11 years, when vaccination becomes the key to the health of the expectant mother. So far, we have such an approach – from the field of dreams.
Consider that the topic of vaccinations is personal for me. I am their supporter. In 1991, when he was Minister of Health, diphtheria broke out in Ukraine. At first dozens, then hundreds of people got sick. The disease is terrible plus it gives complications. And there are no funds in the budget! From where? The economy is falling apart, poverty is coming, wild problems are all around. In a word, who will be cured – well done, who will not get sick – doubly… At that time, the World Health Organization helped us solve this problem. She gave me the vaccine. Also, by the way, Indian and without money – thanks to personal contacts and professional respect, probably. And we immediately started vaccinating the population, even though other colleagues dissuaded me. Like, a big risk, responsibility. If you do not achieve the desired result, you will be accused of all mortal sins! But the fact remains, and a medical one at that: we stopped the epidemic.
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru10.06.2008