There are 15 lessons to be learned from the Covid-19 pandemic, a top virologist said earlier this week. Expert virologist lists 15 lessons Thailand learned from Covid pandemic The Nation

Expert virologist lists 15 lessons Thailand learned from Covid pandemic

There are 15 lessons to be learned from the Covid-19 pandemic, a top virologist said earlier this week.

In a Facebook post, Dr Yong Poovorawan said that when a new disease emerges, it has an impact on a person's health, body and life. Initially, people will start panicking because they do not know about the disease, but eventually, they learn to live with it once a treatment has been found, he said.

As per Dr Yong, this pandemic presented us with 15 lessons, namely:

• The more dangerous a disease is, the less it spreads. For instance, he said, SARS which has a death rate of more than 10 per cent, only spread to some 20 countries. In comparison, Covid-19 which has a mortality rate of about 2 per cent, spread more widely.

• Initially, people infected by Covid-19 developed severe symptoms, but the virus began mutating and weakening after spreading more widely. Dr Yong said, the virus will never completely disappear, but we will learn to live with it.

• It is necessary to study the virus, instead of paying attention to rumours and beliefs. He said research on the Covid-19 virus is very important and will be beneficial to the country in the long run.

• Thailand has been far better at controlling the spread of the disease than countries in the West because people here are more used to washing hands, maintaining distance and wearing masks.

• Scores more people in Thailand opted for jabs because they believed it would help prevent infections. In fact, many people reserved vaccines even before learning about their efficiency. Unfortunately, many people succumbed to the virus because they either chose not to get vaccinated or did not get vaccinated in time.

• Vaccines certified by the World Health Organisation have similar efficiency to inactivated, virus vector and mRNA vaccines.

• The mix-and-match formula applied when vaccine supplies were limited has proved to work despite initial criticism.

• Immunity against the virus depends on the number of doses, not the type of vaccines. The virologist said people should get at least three or four shots for better immunity.

• People can still get infected despite being fully vaccinated, but the symptoms will be less severe. He believes that 70 per cent of the Thai population has contracted Covid-19.

• Thailand has bought far too many doses of Covid-19 vaccines, which are now expiring. Hence, he said, people should go ahead with their shots.

• There is a lot of bullying in Thai society, which is why many specialists are afraid to share their knowledge. He said people should also learn to tell fake news from real news and avoid sharing rumours.

• Most specialists read other people's studies and pick out their favourite parts, which may cause confusion.

• Thailand should support the study of new emerging diseases as that will help save a lot of money spent on seeking solutions, especially medicines.

• The development of vaccines in Thailand is limited and can be produced in small numbers. If Thailand improved its labs and factories, it could produce vaccines for the international market.

• People in Thailand have survived this crisis because they cooperated in preventing the spread of the disease. Now, that the virus has been downgraded to a "communicable disease under surveillance", we will need to learn to live with it. It's better to brainstorm rather than insult one another, he said.