By Anna Konovalenko

The Covid pandemic damages people’s lives on a massive level. As a result of the rejection of regular vaccination, a new wave of deaths is coming. Along with long covid and post covid syndromes, some irreversible consequences are seen. People either choose not to worry anymore or suffer in silence. An MSP from Scottish Labour Party says that Covid-19 is not going anywhere and people should learn how to cope with this.

As the disease hit the country in 2020, people got vaccinated as soon as they had a chance. However, recently the tendency dropped and the Covid-19 wave gained momentum again. Although some groups of people are still afraid to go to public places and do take recommended measures to protect themselves, the majority of the population forgets about the pandemic.

The government does provide necessary information and statistics. Scientists continue to emphasize the importance of the regularity of treatment as that can prevent you from a severe form of the disease and further complications. And as we spoke to Jackie Baillie, a Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, who underlined that their aim is to reach people on a local level. She is sure that the best way to educate society is through communities and local leaders.

She also commented on how she sees the problem: “There was some confusion at the beginning when pregnant women were advised not to get it (the Covid-19 vaccine). Then the tests were done and they were advised to get it. There’ve been one or two cases of quite severe reactions to the vaccination but for the bulk of the population, it has been significant in preventing substantial harm. … I think vaccines are one of the safest ways of people being protected from Covid. Of course, having a vaccination does not prevent you from getting it but that means less severe and people survive”

As this virus spread very fast and then mutated into different forms, people got lost in medical terms and unknown formulas. They feel suspicious of the brand new mRNA vaccines that cause a bad feeling and even lead to a separate disease because they do not understand how some processes work.

However, Jackie Baillie reassures: “Vaccination is here to stay. Covid is not going away. We now have different variations, so maybe because the variants are changing the vaccines will need to change. But the reality is in much the same way as we get vaccinated from flu, I think Covid vaccination will be here for a while to come.”

Moreover, answering the constant question of when the pandemic will be over and everyone will return to their previous lives is disturbingly unclear.

MSP Baillie adds: “The truth is somewhere in the middle. We cannot keep locking society down. We need to think of new ways of coping with it. … A lot more should be done on that before it can be declared endemic. But I do think it will be circulating every winter and in a similar way to a flu jab, we will need to have this. We just need to educate people that this is going to be part of everyday life.”