September 11, 2020 - There are reasons to be optimistic about our fight against COVID-19, Dragan Primorac, a world-renowned professor of genetics and forensic sciences, said today on Croatian national television, warning about the vitamin D levels in Croatian population.
'We breathe in between a hundred thousand and a million microorganisms each day, but we rarely get sick. The strength of our bodies is much bigger than we mention. For instance, vitamin D plays a crucial role. Some studies have shown that people with low vitamin D levels get respiratory infections much more often. During this pandemic, a team of scientists found that many people suffering from COVID-19 had low vitamin D levels', Primorac explained.
He thinks we can help our bodies a lot to fight infections - by exercising, having quality food, resting... Hours of sleep also help our immune systems. He adds that we know much more about the disease now than we did when it first appeared, so there's reason to be optimistic. He stresses that, although we're a Mediterranean country, the low levels of vitamin D are a frequent occurrence in Croatia: he says we don't spend enough time in the sun, we're over-dressed, and vitamin D is very important. He wants everyone to spend more time outdoors and in the sunshine.
He explained that there are 321 vaccines in the pharmaceutical trials pipeline already, while 32 of them are in one of the three phases of the clinical trials (as of yesterday, nine of them are in phase three of clinical trials). However, he highlights that it's most important for the vaccine to be safe and that the experts in the field of vaccinations say that we can expect to have such a vaccine available sometime during next spring or early summer.
He finds it worrying that people suffering from other problems are less inclined to see the doctor and that the COVID-19 pandemic shouldn't stop treating other, more deadly diseases. He also stresses the idea of separating those individuals with high viral loads, which are truly infectious. At the same time, we should allow people with low virus count, who cannot infect other people to live their lives normally and not put the unnecessary strain on the health system.
He gives three scenarios for the future of this pandemic: the first is that the virus will simply disappear from the human population, the second one is that it will appear from time to time, and the third scenario is that the virus will continue to live within the human population, just like the common flu. He concludes by saying that we shouldn't live in fear, but be optimistic if we just make some adjustments inside our heads, which will allow us to live and function normally - while being cautious.
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