Covid patients in ICU recovering more slowly than in previous months

Over the past month, the recovery of coronavirus patients in intensive care has been slower than in the months before. The patients are also older and sick for longer, ICU doctor Diederik Gommers said in the podcast Vraag het Gommers, BNR reports.

In August, Covid-19 related hospitalizations were visibly shorter than in March and April, but the recovery process now seems to have slowed down considerably, even though more targeted medicines are being administered, Gommers said. He therefore has more reservations about the actual effectiveness of medicines that are supposed to reduce symptoms, especially in older patients.

"I've become more pessimistic from the past month. The people who are there now are really sick and we have to wait and see whether the medicines we are giving now really have an effect. In itself, the body breaks down the virus quite quickly, but the virus mainly causes damage to your organs as a side effect."

Gommers also discussed the coronavirus vaccines that are showing promising results. He finds it difficult to say to what extent fears of side effects are justified. "This vaccine has been tested by the pharmaceutical company, but we will have to monitor the long-term side effects of such a vaccine. Usually the symptoms are a painful shoulder or an allergic reaction to components of the vaccine. Actually, I have never heard that you get fertility problems from a vaccine, but to be honest, we have never done this."