Miguel Castanho, Professor at FMUL and researcher at the Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM), went to SIC Notícias news to comment on the statements made by the Director-General of Health, Graça Feitas, regarding the fact that “she does not exclude the possibility of a fourth wave of covid-19”.

"As long as the virus circulates, if we give it conditions, the virus will multiply again", said the Professor, underlining that, "it will be the propagation and viral multiplication conditions that will dictate if we will increase from this small number of daily cases to a much larger one.”

He added that "we are in an early stage of vaccination" and we cannot count on the effects caused by natural immunity, acquired by exposure to the virus and the effects of vaccination.

He also said that it was "a mistake" to launch the idea of reaching eventual group immunity in August. This idea can lead to “the same mistake as Christmas, that is, it can create a false notion that we are at the end of the cycle at the beginning of the summer”. The unpredictability of vaccines is also a cause for not being able to achieve this goal.”

He clarified that the doubts raised by the European Commission regarding the Russian vaccine, “do not concern the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, but rather how Russia will be able to supply so many doses to the European Union, if in its own country the vaccination is not going that fast". He believes "that it is a political and not a technical issue."