The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation continues to inform Ukrainians about the prevention and treatment of the coronavirus within the framework of its project Ask the Doctor. Experts going on live broadcasts are the country’s leading healthcare professionals with vast experience who answer questions from the audience and talk about the latest discoveries and trends in the fight against the pandemic.
The next guest of the project was Andrey Penkov, a paediatrician, candidate of medical science, and president of the Ukrainian-German Medical Association.
According to the doctor, if people have chronic diseases, they not only can, but should be vaccinated.
“Chronic diseases are risk factors for the severe course of COVID-19. As such, even though vaccination does not provide 100% protection, it protects patients, first of all, from infection. And secondly, it significantly reduces the risks of possible hospitalization and admission to the intensive care unit,” explained Andrey Penkov.
The expert also dispelled myths about vaccination and noted that, as a matter of fact, life without a vaccine is a lottery:
“The statistics speak for themselves. If you look at the number of fatal cases among people who were not vaccinated and people who were vaccinated, you can see quite clearly that the risk of dying from the vaccine is about 1,000 times lower than from COVID-19.”
Andrey Penkov also talked about how post-COVID syndrome develops in children and adolescents. The doctor pointed out:
“There are studies that suggest that some children may experience COVID symptoms even 8 months after recovery. This is already called long COVID. That is, after a long time, they cannot fully return to normal childhood activities, be it school or sports.”
He added that, although it is less common in children than in adults, post-COVID syndrome can also be accompanied by headaches, weakness, palpitations, difficulty breathing, etc.
The doctor advises everyone who has experienced post-COVID syndrome to consider their condition, eat healthy and not to rush to challenge themselves physically.
Since the start of broadcasting of Ask the Doctor on digital platforms of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, the content of the project has been watched 20 million times. Previously, experts of live broadcasts were such renowned experts as Boris Todurov, a famous cardiac surgeon, Yekaterina Amosova, a cardiologist, corresponding member of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine, and member of the European Society of Cardiology, Oleg Chaban, a psychiatrist, doctor of medical science, and professor, Sergey Dubrov, president of the Association of Anesthesiologists of Ukraine, and others.
You can watch videos of broadcasts with experienced practitioners on the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation’s Facebook page, as well as on YouTube