The new members of the board are: Mait Altmets, the head of the Infection Control Department and the senior doctor at the North Estonia Medical Centre; Jaanus Harro, a professor of psychophysiology at the University of Tartu; Ruth Kalda, a professor of family medicine and the director of the Institute of Family Medicine and Public Health at the University of Tartu; Pärt Peterson, a professor of molecular immunology and the director of the Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine at the University of Tartu; Margus Varjak, an associate professor of virology at the University of Tartu; and Triin Vihalemm, a professor of communication studies at the University of Tartu.
“We’ve been living with, and learning about, coronavirus for almost two years now, but as we’ve all come to realise, it’s a very dynamic virus,” said Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. “That’s why it’s so important to the government that we’re able to rely on scientific, evidence-based information in making decisions pertaining to it. The role of the Scientific Advisory Board is to provide the government with that information. I wish the new members of the board well not only in their work, but also in fulfilling what is inevitably a stressful role – one that’s imbued with a great deal of social responsibility.”
Heading up the board is Toivo Maimets, who says that ensuring the representation of immunology, virology and the social sciences alongside the fields of medicine and public health was one of his main considerations in selecting the board’s new members. “We’ll be getting down to work at a time when Omicron is spreading like wildfire all over the world and the latest scientific data are changing all the time,” he said. “In light of that, we’ll be giving our first overview to the government as early as next week.”
The Scientific Advisory Board provides the government with overviews and analyses that reflect scientific developments at the national and international levels pertaining to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Where required, it also advises the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Health Board and other agencies involved in dealing with the crisis and answers questions put to it by the government or individual members thereof.
The overviews compiled by the Scientific Advisory Board are published on the kriis.ee website.
For more information about the Scientific Advisory Board, see https://kriis.ee/kriisi-juhtimine-kusimused-ja-vastused/kriisi-juhtimine/teadusnoukoda.
The first meeting of the new members of the Scientific Advisory Board with the press will be taking place on Teams at 13:00 tomorrow. Journalists interested in taking part should e-mail [email protected] for further details.
Gallery: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzxBLk
