28-year-old Ivan Chernenko works as an anesthesiologist at Razdelnyanskaya Central District Hospital.
The doctor tells how a normal working day passes during the autumn peak of the spread of the coronavirus, what a hellish regime doctors have to work in "covid" hospitals and dispels myths about vaccination.
About his working day and the "versatility" of doctors
Compared to last year, the hospital definitely has more equipment. At first, we had a big problem with oxygen, there were no concentrators, there was not a sufficient number of ventilators, even ordinary oxygen masks. Now that's all, it's just a lot, but the number of patients has also increased. All our beds are full.
At the same time, there is a critical shortage of personnel, as, however, everywhere. There is a shortage of nurses, orderlies, and doctors. We have only three anesthesiologists, who are both a therapist, an infectious disease specialist, and everyone. For example, I am on duty in the covid-XNUMX ward, but if there is an operation, I will run to the operating room, if the patient is admitted to the intensive care unit, I will be there.
But at the same time, people did not even wear masks anymore. It would seem that now we are in the "red zone", but... I have a pastime - while I'm going to work on the train, I count how many people in the carriage are wearing masks. Usually - about five people, together with me, for the entire overcrowded carriage.
About stories of individual patients
Now the period of acute manifestation of symptoms has greatly decreased. If before, patients felt bad for 8-10 days, now, with the "Delta" strain, severe patients are admitted already on the third day after the appearance of the first symptoms of the disease. We did not expect this. Patients are brought to our hospital from neighboring districts and even from Odessa.
Sometimes patients see their roommates die. We have to calm them down. Sometimes they also die later.
The beds of the dead do not have time to cool down. Beds are changed and within an hour they are occupied by new patients.
All "severe" patients are unvaccinated. There is only one vaccinated patient on 70 beds, and that one with a bunch of concomitant diseases.
As I already told in one of the interviews, in one of the wards lay a young patient, in her early thirties. She had a panic attack. The noise of the concentrators, the bubbling of oxygen in the humidifier, no psyche can withstand all this in a 24/7 mode. Young woman. Then I thought - why is she here? Concomitant diseases and covid. Therefore, I repeat: covid is a match that sets fire to your thick medical card with the entire collection of diagnoses.
About available vaccines against Covid-19, types and their differences
I want to dispel myths about vaccination, because until now a large number of people are afraid that we will be "injected with something."
Three types of vaccines are currently in use. The first: classic, the mechanism that is often used in the creation of vaccines against other viral diseases. The virus was grown, killed, bottled, and then administered intramuscularly. That is, it is an inactivated virus. There is no "live" virus.
In general, the idea of vaccination is to somehow "deliver" the antigen of the virus to the body. In order for the body to see: "look, there is a virus" and start producing antibodies and forming memory cells. Therefore, the simplest way is to grow the virus, "kill" it and inject it intramuscularly. But this is at the same time the least effective method.
Vector vaccines are more effective when they take an adenovirus that is harmless to humans and slightly modify it. This vaccine is created on the basis of harmless, weakened viruses (vectors), which contain a gene — a small section of the SARS-CoV-2 genome. Vectors serve as transporters of pathogenic organisms for delivery to cells. Once there, genetically modified viruses multiply inside cells and cause an immune response to SARS-CoV-2 proteins.
At the same time, the built-in gene, which is responsible for protein synthesis, is not integrated into our DNA and does not change it in any way.
And the third option, how to make immunity see this foreign protein, is mRNA vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna). In principle, they do not have a virus.
The principle of action of such vaccines is that they contain a viral molecule — matrix RNA (mRNA) enclosed in a lipid nanoparticle. Once in the body, mRNA enters the cell and begins to synthesize pathogen-specific antigens that provoke an immune reaction.
The fact is that our cells show everything that they "digest" to our immunity. They somehow ask immunity: "is it normal or bad?". If it is good, the immune cell will pass by, if it is bad, the immune cell begins to panic and eat, killing it, and begins to produce antibodies in response to this antigen.
Absolutely all vaccines are effective in the prevention of severe disease. There is a difference in effectiveness versus prevention of infection. The lowest in this regard in the classic vaccine, for example, CoronaVac. A little higher than vector vaccines — Astrazeneca. The highest are mRNA vaccines (Moderna, Pfizer).
Which vaccine to choose is up to you. In fact, it does not matter which one you choose. All three types of vaccines will help to avoid a severe course of Covid-90 by more than 19%. This is the main idea of vaccination, the prevention of severe disease so that there are not a large number of sick people, so that the medical system does not collapse and people cannot be hospitalized again or cannot receive medical care.
Therefore, I strongly recommend getting vaccinated while there is still time, because this is the only, at the moment, method that science can offer for the prevention of severe disease.
About the "side effects" of vaccinations
Even if you have allergies, you can get vaccinated. But there are a couple of nuances. In general, there are two contraindications for vaccination with any vaccine. First: if a person has ever had an allergic reaction to a component of the vaccine, that is, to what the vaccine is made of. Second: if a person had a negative reaction to the first dose of the vaccine. For example, you were given the first dose, and you had some kind of allergic reaction. It is clear that you will not be given a second dose. The second dose will be given to you with the second vaccine. It will be replaced so that there is no reaction.
But the first point raises more questions for people. All at once - "oh, how do I know what components are in the vaccine?". But the composition of absolutely all vaccines is now publicly available. It's easy. They are in Ukrainian and Russian. It's easy to google it, and if you're allergic to any of the ingredients, you'll see it.
As for the statistics of occurrence of anaphylactic reactions. Most often, anaphylactic reactions occurred on the Pfizer vaccine. But this is about 5-8 cases per 1 doses.
In the case of Astrazeneca, CoronaVac and Moderna, much fewer allergic reactions are described there, 3-5 per million doses. If compared to the mortality rate from Covid-19, the mortality rate is approximately 30 thousand per million patients. In order for you to understand how unlikely this is, the probability of getting an anaphylactic shock from the common analgin is 30 cases per 1 tablets — that is, 000 times more than from vaccines.
If you are allergic to something, first consult your family doctor or an allergist.
Recorded by Victoria Senko
