What Aifa and the government study on vaccines and more
Updated vaccines and available vaccines, fourth dose and autumn vaccination campaign, but also antiviral, monoclonal and Pnrr according to the president of Aifa, Giorgio Palù
While institutional exponents, various experts and professionals – from Minister Roberto Speranza to his adviser Walter Ricciardi, passing through the President of the Higher Health Council Franco Locatelli and the former director of the European Medicines Agency (Ema) Guido Rasi – look at updated anti Covid vaccines, the president of the Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa), Giorgio Palù, remembers that in the meantime it is "important to protect yourself with the doses that are there, without waiting for the news" and reduce the alarmism on growing infections .
UPDATED VACCINES YES OR NO?
For Palù, before thinking about the new vaccines expected for September, the priority is to have the elderly and frail vaccinated with those already available used so far: "The problem – he explained in an interview with La Stampa – is that the elderly are not persuaded to the booster because there is evidence of reinfections and in addition they await updated vaccines ".
“But instead – continues the number one of Aifa – it would be good to protect themselves in the meantime with the current vaccines that continue to be effective against serious forms of disease. We should think about getting elderly people vaccinated in pharmacies or sending family doctors to their homes when they have trouble getting around ".
So far only 20% of those over 80 have taken the fourth dose.
WHAT PALÙ THINKS ABOUT UPDATED VACCINES
The updated vaccines, as also confirmed by Palù, should arrive between September and winter . In particular, those designed to combat the Omicron Ba.1 and Ba.2 sub-variants are expected in late summer while those against Ba.4 and Ba.5 will not be available before winter. For this, according to Palù, it would be "too far".
THE LATEST NEWS
In this regard, the expert reported the latest news about the state of the art: “We know that the bivalent mRNA vaccine updated on the Omicron Ba.1 strain and containing the original Wuhan sequence, induces anti-Ba antibody titers. 5 not high ".
And remember that Ba.5, in addition to being very transmissible, is the now predominant sub-variant on a global level.
WHY KEEP USING AVAILABLE VACCINES
In support of the use of vaccines already available, Palù – citing a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine – states that "the anti-Ba.4 and Ba.5 antibody titers induced by the current booster or natural infection with Ba.1 and Ba.2 they are reduced by approximately 20 respectively compared to the securities produced against the Whuan prototype and 3 times compared to those generated by Ba.1, Ba.2 ", thus maintaining high protection against the disease .
And then, as the expert claims, "we cannot pursue all the variations that gradually arise".
WHICH APPROACH FOR THE NEW CAMPAIGN
When the updated vaccines arrive, according to Palù, they should be administered "to all over 60s regardless of the presence or absence of pathologies", as happens with the flu vaccine.
Furthermore, he also hopes that “Europe will make a unified choice also in order not to confuse the population”.
WHY NOT BE ALARMED FOR CASES ASCENT
There is no need to be alarmed about the fact that the infections are going up for Palù because, although we cannot yet speak of the endemization of the virus, "between disease and vaccines, almost the entire population is immunized" and then the mutations present in the sub-variants of Omicron causes fewer severe cases because they do not affect the lungs like the original strain.
ANTIVIRAL, MONOCLONAL AND PNRR
Finally, Palù had his say on antivirals and monoclonals, often at the center of the controversy for having been little used despite the great availability. According to the Aifa president for Pfizer's antiviral, Paxlovid, "more training should be given to family doctors and the treatment guidelines made clearer", as well as for AstraZeneca's monoclonal, Evusheld.
For the prescription, in fact, "if we had an electronic health record with all the clinical data of each one, everything would be easier", concludes Palù, who hopes that the investments of the NRP in the digitalization of our healthcare can make a difference.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/aifa-governo-vaccini/ on Tue, 05 Jul 2022 09:12:02 +0000.