Researcher: Size of Estonia's third covid wave depends on vaccination level
The size of Estonia's third coronavirus wave will depend on the number of people who are vaccinated this summer, Mario Kadastik, a member of the government's scientific council and a senior researcher, told ERR.
"The third wave is coming anyway, the only question is how big it will be. But it depends on how many people vaccinate themselves during the summer," Kadastik said on ETV's morning show "Terevisioon" on Tuesday.
For there to be no third wave at all, between 70 and 90 percent of the population need to be vaccinated. "But we can only give the vaccine to certain age groups, so we can't get that amount right away," he said.
Kadastik said that Estonia has reached almost 50 percent immunity if you combine the number of vaccinated people and those who have recovered from coronavirus. If 70 percent were reached then it would be possible to endure the third wave with only mild restrictions.
He said the nice weather should not stop people from getting vaccinated and that no strain of the virus is clearly resistant to the vaccines at the moment
Wearing a mask is a simple and effective measure he said.
"It's not a huge burden and we as a society are now much better prepared for it. It may well be a sufficient measure that means we may not have to shut down anymore," he said, adding the probability of spreading the disease while wearing a mask and being vaccinated is very low.
Hanna Sepp, the head of the Department of Infectious Diseases of the Health Board, who also participated in the program, encourage people to get vaccinated in the summer.
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Editor: Helen Wright