Romani doctor in Czech Republic will get vaccinated and is disturbed by COVID-19 disinformation

Jakub Jarý, a doctor in the Infectious Diseases Department of Masaryk Hospital in Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic who is also a member of the Romani community, has given an online interview to ROMEA TV. As the novel coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, his profession is among the most necessary to society.

Along with other physicians, Jarý examines dozens of people suspected of having COVID-19 every day. He has been providing aid on the frontlines since the beginning of the novel coronavirus pandemic.  

According to Jarý, the situation in the Czech Republic has not changed much since last March, but doctors are now clearer on what their job is, as procedures and safeguards have now been established that function. "The difference is that it is no longer such a new thing or new threat we know nothing about. We didn't know how to stand up to it before. We didn't know how it would develop in future. I dare say that now we have a bit more of an idea about the future," he told ROMEA TV about the development of the pandemic.  

"By now we have a system set up, for example, a triage system, which means categorizing patients, isolating them, and an approach to take toward them. As far as treatment itself goes, there has not been much progress. We do not have a drug that cures this disease, we essentially treat its symptoms and work empirically," the Romani physician said. 

Paramedics and staff members of medical facilities have not been ordered to undergo vaccination, but are able to decide for themselves whether to be vaccinated against the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. "I personally have not yet been vaccinated because I succumbed to the disease myself recently, which means that at this moment I am still protected by natural antibodies, but I absolutely will be vaccinated in the near future. All my colleagues in our department will. I believe that within the framework of one or two weeks I will certainly receive a first dose of vaccine," the doctor predicted to ROMEA TV.   

"I believe there is nothing for us to argue about as to whether to get vaccinated or not. As I said, essentially there is no drug to cure the cause of this disease, no medicine that would manage to cure us of it or at least accelerate its course. That means there is just one way out, and that is to produce antibodies, to acquire immunity, so that leads you to the conclusion of undergoing vaccination," the infectious diseases expert said.     

"Naturally, this is not just the path to protecting ourselves and our loved ones, but also the road to returning to ordinary life as we were accustomed to living it. We just all get vaccinated, or at least a majority of us do. If most of the population gets vaccinated, then, to put it simply, the virus will no longer spread because it will not be able to find anywhere to go in our population," Jarý said. 

"A nurse will vaccinate you in the presence of a physician. A doctor will be there and will always review the patient's history. That means the doctor will review what diseases the patient is being treated for, what medicines the patient is taking - without that, the vaccination cannot take place," he described. 

A wave of disinformation and hoaxes about being vaccinated against the novel coronavirus has swept over social media. Even people close to Jarý himself, his family and friends, have been taken in by untruthful allegations and are always glad to take advice from him as a practicing expert and to double-check their sources of information with him. 

"They are asking these questions exactly because they are coming into contact with these allegations, with the hoaxes, on social media. They have the advantage of having me on the phone, they can call me any time, or write me and easily ask me what I believe, whether something they have heard is a valid piece of information or a fabrication. Or they ask me for advice on how to proceed," Jarý said in the interview for ROMEA TV.