focus: Complementary and Integrative medicine
HOW HAS THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC EVOLVED? Text: Malika Sachdeva | swimsa COVID-19 coordinator It has now been almost 2 years since the first CO VID-19 cases were recorded and to date, globally, more than 219 million people have been infec ted, and 4.55 million have passed away as a re sult. In Switzerland, the case rates have currently decreased since the start of September, after a summer surge, with 800 to 900 newly recorded infections daily. According to the Swiss National Taskforce, 99.9% of current cases in Switzerland are of the Delta variant, replacing previous va riants over the summer. In April 2021, swimsa along with asep (Swiss pharmaceutical students’ association) collabo rated to conduct a survey on the perspective of healthcare students (including medical, pharma ceutical and nursing students) on the COVID-19 vaccine. The results generally showed a positi ve perception towards the COVID-19 vaccines, with about 70% of students intending to be
vaccinated. Several students also expressed their and their entourage’s concerns about the safe ty and efficacy of the vaccine, with the biggest concerns being potential side-effects that may appear in the long run and reduced efficacy with newer strains. A significant number of students were also concerned about the lack of sufficient evidence that highlighted the vaccines’ effecti veness as well as the speed at which they were developed. Since then, vaccination rates have increased with about 65% of the population in Switzerland vac cinated with at least 1 dose (as of the 14th of Oc tober 2021). The past year has undoubtedly seen major ad vancements in terms of the development of the vaccine. The Swiss vaccine roll-out began in early January with the elderly population and those
share of vaccinated people
80% 60% 40% 20%
21.12.20
01.03.21
01.06.21
01.09.21
10.11.21
Vaccination status against COVID-19 in Switzerland. Dark green denotes fully vaccinated; light green denotes partially vaccinated. Source: Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) 20
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