Optimism vs. Caution - Miguel Castanho's opinion on the Covid-19 vaccine
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When asked about the optimism about the start of the vaccination plan against Covid-19 in the United Kingdom, Miguel Castanho prefers to describe himself as "realistic". Not wanting to devalue the scientific milestone, which consists in the development of the new vaccine, the FMUL Professor warns about the need to consider the results of the large numbers. According to the specialist, “They tell us where we are getting to and not exactly where we started from”.

In the Researcher's opinion, the process must be clear and transparent to guarantee the adhesion of the global population, requiring Science to be able to communicate each step of the process.

He says he is realistic because he is aware of the various factors that involve a vaccination plan, which can lead to “ironic” changes, as observed in the United Kingdom. He recalls that the first European country to administer the vaccine (the United Kingdom), when it developed the vaccination plan, had in mind to start it with the Oxford vaccine and, due to the circumstances, started the process with the Pfizer vaccine, making the first day of vaccination an ironic day.

Still on the administration of the various vaccines to different age groups, Miguel Castanho admits that there may be an advantage in a careful assessment of which are the best vaccines for each age group or other population groups, based on other diseases. However, this discussion also raises some doubts for the specialist, as it can cause confusion in the population, who may refuse to be vaccinated, for this reason. "You have to start explaining everything very well, right from the start, and things have to make sense," reiterates the researcher.

Faced with the urgent need for a vaccine against Covid-19, Miguel Castanho states that “One thing is that we want to act quickly, another thing is to act desperately” and in the expert's opinion what must be done is “wait for the final results of the studies (…) see what they say, what guarantees the regulatory authorities give us and only after that think about who to vaccinate, with what vaccine and under what circumstances”.

 Watch the full interview given to SIC Notícias in the Evening Edition here