Several medical workers presented a call on people to get vaccinated on November 8. (source: SITA)
While there is not enough medical staff in the hospitals, the number of patients who have to be hospitalised with Covid is increasing, and the staff is gradually losing strength.
Our paywall policy:
The Slovak Spectator has decided to make all the articles on the special measures, statistics and basic information about the coronavirus available to everyone. If you appreciate our work and would like to support good journalism, please buy our subscription. We believe this is an issue where accurate and fact-based information is important for people to cope.
This is the main message sent by medical workers from hospitals located across Slovakia to the broader public on November 8.
They presented an open letter, signed by more than 1,300 healthcare workers, including doctors and nurses, in which they particularly address those who are hesitant about getting vaccinated against Covid.
“The hospitals are being filled by people who should not have been there,” the letter reads, referring to the young patients who end up in hospitals. “Many of them have a very serious course of the disease, are separated from their families for weeks, unsure of when this will end. Quite often, these people are dying and we cannot help them. It is an indescribable feeling of helplessness and despair.”
Vaccines are safe
Another group of people who have died as a result of Covid are those not infected with the virus. These are particularly patients who could not undergo surgery.
“Most Covid deaths belong to deaths that could have been averted by vaccination,” the letter reads. “Unfortunately, the victims of the pandemic will include those who will fail to gain adequate medical treatment because the hospitals are full. So, through vaccination we can prevent excessive deaths caused by other diagnoses.”
Doctor Peter Sabaka, one of the authors of the letter, said people do not have to be afraid of side effects. They should instead think about what will come next, and vaccination is currently the only effective prevention, as reported by the TASR newswire.
“We medical workers working in Covid departments across Slovakia are asking for your trust and help,” the letter reads. “We see the consequences of Covid every single day. People with a serious course of the disease are dying before our eyes. Vaccination is not a political issue, but more than anything else a medical issue.”
Sabaka reiterated that vaccines are safe, and that medical workers working in Covid departments trust them.
The call has been supported by Health Minister Vladimír Lengvarský (OĽaNO nominee), who appreciated the attitude and work of all healthcare workers in Slovakia, and stressed that vaccination is the only way out of the pandemic, TASR reported.
