We have all been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in one way or another, and we understand that some of you may be afraid to come to the Symposium because of the virus. We promise you that we will do everything we can to make the Symposium as safe as possible, but we would like to kindly ask you to do everything you can to keep yourself healthy and to make sure that everyone around you stays safe too.

Although now the Omicron variant is rolling over the globe and infection statistics may be depressing, the very good news is that during the last two summers in Poland, the epidemic was at extreme lows and we expect a similar pattern this summer too. Last August, when the Symposium was originally planned to be held, there were only 220–240 COVID-19 infections and 0–5 COVID-19 caused deaths per day across the entire country (the population of Poland is over 38 million):

 

Thus, even though now the COVID-19 statistics may be scary and discouraging, please bear in mind that the Symposium will take place in the summer, when it should be much safer. Moreover, most recent predictions made by leading epidemiologists and virologists suggest that the Omicron wave is likely to be high, but rapid and possibly the last such dangerous wave of COVID-19.

 

If, however, the predictions happen to be incorrect and the Symposium is going to be cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions, everyone who registered will be able to vote whether they want to postpone the Symposium and come to Kraków in 2023 or whether they would like the Symposium to be held online. Under the first scenario, the registration fees will be kept in the JU’s bank account until the 2023 Symposium, whereas in the second scenario, the Symposium budget will be recalculated (an online Symposium should be cheaper) and a part of the registration fee will be refunded to each participant. In other words, please do not be afraid to register, as either way you won’t lose your funds. Moreover, most booking services offer fully refundable accommodation reservations. Some of you may be afraid of quarantine when arriving in Poland, but the good news is that the present regulations do not impose quarantine on arrivals.

Information on anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines accepted in the EU:

Comirnaty (BNT162b2) by Pfizer & BioNTech, mRNA 1273 by Moderna, Vaxzevria (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19) by AstraZeneca, and Janssen (Ad26.COV.2-S) by Johnson & Johnson.

A fully vaccinated person at the time of the Symposium is someone who took the booster dose on 26.12.2021 or later. In the EU, fully vaccinated people are issued an EU Digital COVID Certificate (if you have one, it’s good to have it with you either digitally or on paper). We strongly suggest taking the booster no later than four weeks prior to the Symposium.