At the beginning of the sitting, Health and Family Committee Chairman Dr Darko Laketic, addressed the attending, greeting them, wishing them success in their work and expressing satisfaction that the parliamentarians can also contribute to the fight against the coronavirus.

Subcommittee Chairperson Dr Dragana Barisic informed those attending that the Subcommittee was provided with material related to the appearance of a new strain of coronavirus in the UK, i.e. information on the general debate in the Upper and Lower Houses of the British Parliament, held on 14 and 15 December 2020. She said that on the occasion the MPs were informed that a new strain of the virus had been identified, which probably caused a faster spread of the virus in South East England, and that the number of infected people in London is increasing among school-age children, as well as among other groups, which led to tougher protection measures. Due to all the above, the Subcommittee Chairperson requested an explanation about the new strain of the virus from the Belgrade Faculty of Medicine virologist Prof. Dr Aleksandra Knezevic, who attended the session.

Dr Aleksandra Knezevic briefed the members of the Subcommittee on the specifics of the new British strain of the virus. She pointed out that it is important to monitor all new strains in order to monitor the effectiveness of vaccines, and emphasized that the existing vaccines do have an effect on the British strain of the virus, while they give a slightly lower level of protection against the African and Brazilian strains.

Subcommittee member Aleksandra Pavlovic Markovic wanted to know how the fact that there is a high level of infection even after revaccination is interpreted. Dr Aleksandra Knezevic said that vaccines create immunity against the virus at different speeds, with the Pfizer vaccine having the fastest effect in the current selection, creating immunity after 3 weeks, while the Chinese and Russian vaccines create immunity two months after vaccination, but they provide more comprehensive and thorough protection.

In the course of the talk, the members of the Subcommittee were interested in the further course of vaccine production, the specifics of new strains of the virus and expert details regarding the transmission of the infection.

Subcommittee Chairperson Dr Dragana Barisic had a question related to the further implementation of anti-epidemic measures and the effectiveness of vaccination.

Prof. Dr Aleksandra Knezevic answered that the anti-epidemic measures must remain in full force, and as far as the efficiency of the vaccines is concerned, it is at a high level. The importance of further mass vaccination of the population was especially emphasised.

Health and Family Committee Chairman Dr Darko Laketic asked for an assessment of the further evolution of the virus in the sense that throughout the history of epidemics most viruses have had a tendency to increase in virulence, i.e. the possibility of disease transmission and to reduce pathogenicity, i.e. the probability of host death. Is this also predicted for the COVID-19 virus. The professor's answer was absolutely affirmative, but with the caveat that the time interval in which it will happen is unknown.

The sitting was chaired by Subcommittee Chairperson Dr Dragana Barisic, and attended by the following members: Dragana Brankovic Minsic, Rajka Matovic and Prof. Dr. Aleksandra Pavlovic Markovic.