Cardiologist Andrejs Ērglis: Vaccines and pandemics are ingredients for a phenomenal hybrid war

'Indirect mortality is greater than Covid mortality. There is a joke related to this. An old man is sitting on the side of the road when Death passes him on the way to the city; the man asks it, "How many lives will you take?" Death answers, "Five thousand." When Death comes back, the man says, "You lied to me - you actually took 15,000 lives." "No," it answers, "I took five thousand, the other ten thousand died out of fear",' says Andrejs Ērglis.

However, it is not difficult for Andrejs Ērglis to admit that in this Covid pandemic situation "doctors too could have done much better." He does not try to ignore the possible guilt of himself and his colleagues.

But at the same time, it is known that extremely talented doctors work in Latvia. At one time, in 2016, four surgeons - Romans Lācis, Pēteris Stradiņš, Uldis Strazdiņš and Andrejs Ērglis - operated on the heart of the then President Raimonds Vējonis. His health at that time was not excellent, and Vējonis could also be operated on abroad because it is not humiliating for doctors to self-critically assess their abilities. However, the operation was decided to be performed in Riga and was of the highest quality.

Andrejs Ērglis is the grandson of Pauls Stradiņš, the creator of the Latvian health care system and the legendary surgeon. His mother Asja's brother was the academic, historian, researcher of Latvian studies Jānis Stradiņš, who passed away in 2019. Now the great Stradiņš-Ērglis family discusses every philosophical and linguistic aspect without Jānis. We will talk about current events with Andrejs Ērglis, a cardiac surgeon, professor at the University of Latvia, and vice-president of the Academy of Sciences.

For the second year in a row, we live in the shadow of the Covid. Are there any changes in society? What is society like?

In my opinion, a pandemic makes normal people think a lot. And thinking is a very important thing. I used to work for Latvian Radio for about four years, and I really liked it, although Gunārs Jākobsons pointed out that I had a bad enunciation - but it was the eighties, bohemian, near the famous bar Skapis, interests were very versatile, except - medicine... What did I like about this radio job? The idea of ​​journalism as thinking, not as a false headline and an expression of unfounded conclusions - as is often the case now. There was strong censorship then, but now?

Now censorship is starting to come into vogue again.

Censorship is now probably even greater than it was then. But there is one benefit: a pandemic makes us think of very serious things, and one of them is the question of the meaning of our existence, the existence of the state, the meaning and role of society and the existence of each individual. At the moment, as a doctor and - in the sense of the hospital - as an administrator, I see that people in Latvia are extremely disciplined, and this makes me think that the Latvian people will never disappear. Sometimes they might grumble about something, sometimes they misstep - as one police chief said, but in general, discipline is observed.

Another serious thing to think about is death. People are dying of cancer, of cardiovascular disease, of much more, and everyone understands that. But now, during a pandemic, we see that the economy has taken a backseat to human life. It has never been like that. And in Latvia, I think, we have already gone through almost everything with relatively dry feet: compared to countries where mortality with Covid is 20%.

'Indirect mortality is greater than Covid mortality. There is a joke related to this. An old man is sitting on the side of the road when Death passes him on the way to the city; the man asks it, "How many lives will you take?" Death answers, "Five thousand." When Death comes back, the man says, "You lied to me - you actually took 15,000 lives." "No," it answers, "I took five thousand, the other ten thousand died out of fear." I would add today: they died because they didn't come to a check-up, didn't want to, couldn't... And we, the doctors, could do a lot better.

You once said that the virus would force us to give up everything superfluous. What has been discarded thus far?

One thinker relatively recently said that the Great French Revolution was not so far in history that we could begin to analyze it... We - I hope - live at the very edge of a pandemic that we have to step over. The very end is always the most difficult, it's like climbing mountains: injuries most often happen when going downhill, because a person is already a bit relaxed. That is why we must force ourselves to mobilize. Then we will also see the important things and the things that need to be given up.

The important thing will definitely be education: we will realize that learning in this way - at a distance - is not possible. "Distant" children are going crazy, this is no education. We must have physical contact, we have to talk, meet, do sports, that is natural. I see how our lecturers feel: they can no longer take giving lectures to a dark screen. You can do this for a while, but it's not normal! I hope that someday everyone will understand that lectures, being together, having lunch together, meeting people - these are very important things.

If we do not start living, we will die of something else - that is what you said. It is, in fact, a continuation of what you are saying now.

That's how it is. What is happening now to the mental health of children and their parents is a disaster. This "other" is in the two-thirds that Death did not seem to have killed in the story I told. I am not calling for an uncontrolled opening of everything and the lifting of all restrictions. However, our direction must be to return to normal life as quickly as possible. We must open everything that can be opened, we must live, otherwise this non-living will dramatically affect many other things. Yes, and I would be interested to see if this pandemic year brings an increase in birth rates because then we will understand how nature regulates this problem.

But then why are the chaotic prohibitions and restrictions still dominating government decisions? One would assume that the people gathered there are somewhat smart...

I think it is a question of existing systems, that is, it is the ruling systems in which this chaos arises. I've played basketball, I know how a team works. And look at what happens to some teams: pretty good players are invited, but there is no "chemistry" between them.

Just like in love?

Yes. There everyone does something on their own and individually. Once a bunch of NHL superstars was called up for the Russian hockey team, but Russia lost. There was no "chemistry"! The government must have a common, unified policy, but the members of the government must not solve their own - their own! - inter-party political issues.

But they do it, and quite awkwardly too.

That is why the government is not in sync, there is no possibility to act as one, a lot is happening chaotically. For example, the vaccine situation. I don't understand how the purchase of vaccines did not go through the Saeima committees and various government deliberations?! This is not just about the Ministry of Health! Where were all those critics of today? Of course, mistakes must definitely be analyzed, but we, as a country, have not been prepared for such situations over the last 30 years. And the most important areas that we need to strengthen now are security and education. If there are these two things, then health protection will come by itself.

What do you mean by security?

It is quite clear that vaccines and the pandemic are ingredients for a phenomenal hybrid war. And evil uses stupidity - on all sorts of levels. We can, of course, look and worry about what is happening now between Ukraine and Russia, but what is the relationship between Britain and Germany? This is again a story about systems. Vaccines are only an indicator.

This is historical: Germany bombed Britain during World War II, and these memories are already ingrained on a genetic level - as are Latvia's relations with Russia. And here is the story of two vaccines: made in Germany and made in the United Kingdom. The answers to the questions will show us the extent to which we need to work with the pharmaceutical industry.

I think we need to place culture next to security and education, which is currently in a state of complete disarray.

There is no doubt about that. Maestro Raimonds Pauls jokingly told me yesterday that he would make the "Fourth Wave" in the summer - instead of the "New Wave". But how magnanimous a person can be: he is always worried about musicians - from the very beginning of Covid - because Pauls understands that it is destroying the culture of music. What, then, determines the identity of our people? It is the Latvian language that must be protected, and it is a culture that must be allowed to develop.

Culture cannot survive remotely: the people of culture must face spectators and listeners. As a numerically small nation, we suffer more because culture requires spectators to survive, not a dark screen. It is exactly the same in sports. Why didn't our basketball team go to the European Championship? Playing at empty stands... If they were full, imagine how they would propel basketball players forward!

You mentioned vaccines ... During the Easter holidays, several groups of the population had the opportunity to be vaccinated, but half refused to do so. There were no queues for those who wanted to be vaccinated at the vaccination centers during the last holidays. Is there no confidence in vaccines? Did the government mess up again?

Vaccination is not "planted" in our genetics, we see it as a wrong duty, but it should be seen as the ultimate rescue. There is no pandemic that can be overcome without vaccination. What are, for example, Denmark and the United Kingdom doing? Up to 85% of the population is vaccinated against influenza there, starting from the age of 65 - every year. And what's the difference for them to go get one more vaccine? They know it's right, and so they do it. But it is a matter of education, also among doctors. The doctor has to be sure: if the vaccinee sees that the doctor is in doubt, then... problems arise. In addition, there are very extensive disinformation campaigns. With all this in mind, I will not support any waves of criticism of what those responsible for vaccination do or don't do, because - we just have to get vaccinated, and that's it!

When could this all end?

The French said that on the day of the storming of Bastille - July 14 (laughs). But seriously: I hope that everything will be mostly fine in the summer. It is not for nothing that there is now active talk about green passports and freedom of movement. I do not think that everything will be opened at once, but there will be many more freedoms. But I'll say it again - go and get vaccinated. There was just a scandal with the program Aizliegtais paņēmiens... Let's say it's wartime, and a journalist says - I'm for the truth. And he takes and publishes the truth about where the army fortifications are. In turn, the British royal family, in response to Megan's scandalous interview, said that it was not suitable for the moment. In the first, the second and the third case - the TV program - revealing the truth was not appropriate at this time.

It is even a philosophical question: is self-censorship and censorship always bad? Many will say that this is the path to totalitarianism, and so on. But every human body has substances we can't live without: we can't do without fat, we can't do without cholesterol. If there is too much of these substances, that's bad. Therefore, a balance must be sought. Harmony must be sought. And that's why we have to meet, sing, play sports, go to school, embrace, learn math, music, philosophy and literature, be healthy. All this must be wished to Latvia, and then we must also realize these goals ourselves.

*****

Be the first to read interesting news from Latvia and the world by joining our Telegram and Signal channels.