Who is Dr Gregory Poland? Doc issues warning, Omicron could KILL 32K Americans by Dec 31
One of US’ top experts on vaccination and immunology has warned against the Omicron Covid-19 variant, which is now in half of the nation’s states. Dr Gregory Poland believes that if not controlled it can take as many as 32,000 lives by the end of this year. As of now, 25 states of the US have at least one Omicron case, according to reports.
Dr Poland, who works as an epidemiologist for the Mayo Clinic and is editor-in-chief of the scientific journals 'Vaccine', told DailyMail.com: “32,000 Americans who think they're going to be alive to celebrate Christmas and New Years are, no pun intended, dead wrong. Not one of them believes [they will die].”
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Who is Dr Gregory Poland?
According to Poland’s clinical profile on the Mayo Clinic’s website, he “studies the immunogenetics of vaccine response in adults and children. Dr. Poland and his team within the Vaccine Research Group aim to improve the health of individuals across the world by pursuing challenges posed by infectious diseases and bioterrorism through clinical, laboratory and epidemiologic vaccine research.”
He is an alumnus of Illinois Wesleyan University and School of Medicine, Southern Illinois University, Springfield. Dr Poland is also a recipient of a number of awards, including Research Career Achievement Award, Department of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, 2011; MERIT Award, National Institutes of Health, 2011; and Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service, 2003.
While expressing his concern, Dr Poland said that though initial data stated that the Omicron variant did not cause the level of seriousness and chaos Delta and other Covid strains did, people may ignore safety precautions and fall into the trap of the existing dangers of the virus. He noted, “Everybody's comforting themselves with the idea that Omicron is less severe. It may well be but that is very, very, preliminary information that comes from one specific area of the world where Delta has not been as deadly as it was here. It fascinates me that a tiny little preliminary report like that makes its way around the world. Everybody fixes on that belief. And yet, look at the last year of work trying to get people immunized and they ignore it.”
The doctor has urged the people of America to get their double vaccine shots as soon as possible, and those who already had to get the booster jab. He blamed much of the country’s failures to deal with the pandemic on the people’s negligence and disregard to the fact that how fast the virus can advance. “What we're fundamentally discussing is a concept called exponential reality... and there are no circumstances in which humans don't fail in decision making under conditions of exponential reality,” he added.
Dr Poland voiced no objection to traveling during Christmas and the New Year holidays but stated that “Just [make sure] they're fully vaccinated and boosted and they wear a proper mask properly. We were built for community, we were built for social interaction, we must have that. That question is how to do it safely. And [how to] balance risks and benefits.”
