STAYING WITH ECONOMICS Forto claims Delta variant only affects unvaccinated, experts deny him

By: A. Vrabac

Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton Edin Forto, an economist by profession, today made an unfounded statement that "all research shows that this is a new pandemic of the unvaccinated, because the pandemic only affects the unvaccinated".

If Forto had read the research of domestic and foreign experts, especially immunologists and geneticists, he would know that his statement is not true and that he should not make such qualifications, especially since there are experts who have the final say.

Geneticist Lana Salihefendić confirmed for O kanal that several cases of vaccinated people who tested positive for SARS-COV2 have been recorded in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"They all had mild symptoms and, most importantly, all these people tested negative after 3-4 days. The infection lasted shorter, they had minor problems with their nose and cough, and the infection passed almost unnoticed. If testing had not been available, if they had no place to get tested, they most likely wouldn't have even known they were infected," says Salihefendić.

Although Forto's statements could imply that unvaccinated people are dangerous, geneticist Salihefendić explains that vaccinated people can also transmit the virus.

Microbiologist Branko Rihtman confirmed that a significant number of patients who received only one dose of the vaccine have been recorded in Great Britain, which is why the second doses of the vaccine have been moved from 12 weeks to 8 weeks.

Instead of interpreting what he absolutely should not, and causing unrest among unvaccinated citizens, it would be better for Forto to try to enable vaccination at several more points, instead of exclusively at Zetra. If nothing else, he was recently in Belgrade, so he could have "copied" how our neighbors are doing it, where thousands of Sarajevans have already been vaccinated while waiting for Forto and others to provide the necessary vaccines.

It should be reminded that Bosnia and Herzegovina has not yet had any direct agreement on vaccine procurement, but only vaccines from the Covax program, EU4HEALTH, and various donations from several countries. Even the 500,000 Sinopharm vaccines purchased by the Government of FBiH from China have not yet arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Mass immunization in Sarajevo begins on Saturday, July 31, when the daily capacity will be 4,000 vaccinated people.