People should have no doubts about the COVID-19 vaccine, Assistant Professor of Pharmacology at the Medical School of the University of Cyprus Nikolas Dietis has told CNA, urging everyone to take advantage of the vaccine in order to combat the pandemic.

Dietis said that doubts are something natural and must be addressed by experts. “We need to listen to the doctors, the scientists, the international organisations which grant licenses and instructions for the vaccines,” he added.

He went on to say that “as experts, we have a lot of answers to address the doubts disseminated through the mass media and by people – doubts about their safety, how quickly the vaccine was launched in the market, which are rational but do not have a significantly sound basis.”
 
Dietis said that the vaccine is very safe and that this is evidenced by a lot of data, including those of clinical research. He added that up until now four million people have been vaccinated and that there was no other adverse reaction but some allergies and temporary mild side effects which are included in the vaccine registration dossier. 

Therefore the knowledge and the expectations we had are confirmed and people must have no doubts, they must trust the science and get vaccinated, he added.

Dietis also said that it is very fortunate that we now have vaccines from two providers, noting that the Moderna vaccine will seek approval by the EU at the beginning of January and once it is approved it will be distributed to European countries, including Cyprus.

He stressed the need for vaccinations to take place gradually until a significant proportion of the population is vaccinated in some months.