Vaccine, how (not) goes the fourth dose. Gimbe Report
5.2 million people are eligible to receive the fourth dose but the vaccination campaign is at stake and the Gimbe Foundation calls for "new communication strategies". Facts, numbers and comments
Although the Ministry of Health has expanded the number of people who can receive and to whom the fourth dose (or second booster) is recommended, the numbers leave something to be desired.
In fact, too many elderly and frail people are still missing, which is why, according to the president of the Gimbe Foundation , Nino Cartabellotta, we can no longer rely on "voluntary membership only", but instead "new communication strategies" and " active call mechanisms ".
HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE ELIGIBLE FOR THE FOURTH DOSE
In addition to immunocompromised people (n.791.376), the circular of the Ministry of Health of 8 April recommends the fourth dose (or second booster) for three categories of people: the over 80 (n. 2.795.910), patients frail people aged 60-79 (n. 1,538,588) and guests of the nursing homes who do not fall into the previous categories (n. 88,099), for a total of over 5.2 million people.
This is stated by the Gimbe Foundation, which observes the muted start of the new vaccination campaign.
HOW MANY FOUR DOSES WERE ADMINISTERED
According to Foundation data, a total of 109,712 fourth doses have been administered as of April 20.
FOURTH DOSES FOR IMMUNOCOMPROMISES
In particular, the report states that 80,554 fourth doses were administered to immunocompromised people, or only 1 in 10. According to the official audience, the national coverage rate for the fourth doses is 10.2% with clear regional differences: from 1.6% of Calabria to 40.5% of Piedmont.
"After 7 weeks from the green light of the fourth dose for immunocompromised people – comments Cartabellotta – a national coverage rate of 10.2% and unjustified regional differences show that, at the moment, the protection of over 790 thousand extremely fragile people is a distant mirage. Consequently, the extension of the audience for the fourth dose to over 5.2 million people undoubtedly requires both new communication strategies and active call mechanisms and cannot be entrusted only to voluntary membership ".
FOUR DOSES FOR OVER 80, RSA AND FRAGILE GUESTS
The remaining 29,158 fourth doses were administered to over 80, RSA and frail guests (60-79 years). In this case, according to the official audience, the national coverage rate for the fourth doses is 0.7% with the usual regional differences: from 0.04% in Friuli-Venezia Giulia to 1.2% in Lazio.
VACCINAL CAMPAIGN IN RILENTO IN GENERAL
But the stalling of the vaccination campaign is also observed in the third doses and in the primary cycle. Between March 20 and April 19, Gimbe reports, coverage with at least one dose is steady at 85.6%; those with a full cycle increased by only 0.2 percentage points from 83.9% to 84.1%. Third dose coverage is also proceeding very slowly with an increase of 1.5 (82.4% vs 83.9%).
The third doses administered as of April 20 are 39,188,284 and in this case the national coverage rate is 83.9% with clear regional differences: from 78.9% in Sicily to 88% in Valle D'Aosta.
Of the 7.5 million people who have not yet received the booster dose, 2 million could receive it right away, while the 5.5 million recovered for less than 120 days cannot receive it immediately.
“That the vaccination campaign is now at stake – said Cartabellotta – is a fact, despite 4.2 million people who can be vaccinated with a first dose and 2 million with a booster dose. In fact, the vaccination coverage rates in the last month have registered negligible increases ”.
AAA NEW VACCINATES WANTED
In the week 13-19 April, according to the data of the Foundation, the number of new vaccinated people dropped again: 6,092 compared to 8,601 in the previous week (-29.2%). Of these, 24.2% is represented by the 5-11 age group: 1,474, with a reduction of 34.2% compared to the previous week.
After the slight rise last week, the number of new vaccinated people falls again among the over 50s, more at risk of serious illness, reaching 1,917 (-16.1% compared to the previous week).
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/vaccino-come-non-va-la-quarta-dose-report-gimbe/ on Thu, 21 Apr 2022 11:04:58 +0000.