TMU Hospital Suspends OR Usage After Cases 北醫開刀房多人確診 手術室一度暫停

As the epidemic is staging a comeback, a meeting of experts is scheduled for April 20 to discuss whether to allow the vaccination of children. Meanwhile, medical personnel of a Taipei hospital tested positive, leading to the closure of its operating rooms. 

A nurse anesthetist at Taipei Medical University Hospital recently tested positive. Contacts were traced, and four more personnel in the anesthesiology department and working in operating rooms tested positive. The hospital disinfected its ORs and suspended procedures. The number of local COVID-19 cases is surging, and there are doctors who say the future epidemic situation will be somewhere between those of South Korea and Singapore. It will take at least three more months before coexistence with the virus will be possible.

Chiang Kuan-yu, General Physician, Taipei City Hospital Zhongxing Branch: “The epidemic situation may not develop so intensely, but it may persist for a long time. We might have hills rather than peaks. If that's the case, then it may take longer than 120 days and it may drag on for a very, very long time.”

The Food and Drug Administration recently granted emergency use authorization for the Moderna vaccine on children aged six to 11. A meeting of experts is scheduled for April 20, and they will decide whether to allow the vaccination of children. Parents are asking why the government is not using Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccines for children. Some experts cited American clinical studies in responding.

He Mei-hsiang, Researcher, Academia Sinica: “Pfizer's is only 10 mg (one-third of the adult dosage), so the apparent effect is that the protective effect declines quickly. Of course, it's primarily because this vaccine is based on the original strain and when used against Omicron, of course, there is a huge difference in its antigenicity.”

Huang Li-min, Honorary Chair, Infectious Diseases Society of Taiwan: “These two vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) can both be used. You should use whatever vaccines you have available because the epidemic situation continues and you don't know how long you have to wait for the BNT vaccine.”

Experts say the priority should be raising the vaccination coverage, especially boosting it to at least 90 percent among the elderly to reduce the risk of severe cases and death. The government should also stock up on a sufficient number of oral antivirals and free up medical resources to treat severe cases.

新冠本土疫情升溫，醫院也陸續傳出疫情，台北醫學大學附設醫院有1名麻醉科護理師確診，擴大匡列發現，又有4名麻醉科及開刀房人員也確診，院方緊急清消開刀房，並一度暫停手術室作業。眼看疫情已連續四天破千例，有醫師預測，台灣發展模式可能介於南韓和新加坡之間，要達到與病毒共存狀態，可能還要3個月以上。

北市聯醫中興院區一般內科醫師姜冠宇提到：「疫情可能會走得沒有那麼的激烈，但是可能會走得比較長，變成說我們沒有那種尖峰，而是說一個丘陵這樣子，那其實這樣的話，可能就不只120天，而是會持續得非常非常久。」

此外，食藥署日前核准6到11歲兒童，接種莫德納疫苗的緊急使用授權EUA，目前正等待週三專家會議討論、是否給兒童施打，不過有家長質疑，為何不採用美國輝瑞兒童疫苗？對此有專家提出美國臨床數據說明。

中研院研究員何美鄉說：「輝瑞因為用了嘛，它只有10微克（成人劑量1/3），所以用的時候看起來，那個效果就是預防感染的效果快速下降，當然主要是因為，這是一個原始株的疫苗，用來預防Omicron當然它是非常的它的抗原性差太多嘛。」

台灣感染症醫學會名譽理事長黃立民指出：「這兩個疫苗（輝瑞跟莫德納）都是可以使用的啦，現在有什麼疫苗，你就先使用什麼疫苗，因為疫情已經看起來在進行了，你其實目前去要等待BNT疫苗，其實是有點緩不濟急啦。」

專家強調，現階段要將疫苗覆蓋率再提高，尤其是高齡長者需達九成，以降低重症及死亡率，還得備妥足夠的口服抗病毒藥物，並將輕重症分流照護，才能維持醫療量能，確診病例不要一下子增加太快，才能漸進式與病毒共存。