Will we still get vaccinated against Covid?
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) have given indications on future vaccination campaigns against Covid. Here's what the epidemiologists Gianni Rezza and Pierluigi Lopalco think
Covid is no longer scary and the data show that the contagion curve is down, however, the virus continues to circulate and the health authorities are already thinking about the strategy to adopt next autumn when the flu season also begins.
So here are the indications coming from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) regarding future anti-Covid vaccinations.
THE LATEST DATA ON COVID IN ITALY…
According to the latestbulletin released by the Ministry of Health, 9,084 new infections were recorded in the week from 2 to 9 June – a decrease of 31.2% compared to the previous week when there were 13,208. Even the deaths recorded (108) are down by 13.6% compared to the previous week when they were 125.
…IN EUROPE…
The ECDC also announces that at European level, in the week ending 4 June, "decreasing or stable trends have been observed in the indicators", as already observed in recent weeks.
Furthermore, “according to the model forecasts, no country is expected to experience increases in the number of reported cases, hospital admissions or deaths in the period up to 18 June”.
…AND IN THE WORLD
Finally, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), globally , in the last 28 days (from 8 May to 4 June 2023) more than 1.7 million new cases and more than 10,000 deaths have been reported, with a decrease by 38% and 47% respectively compared to the previous 28 days (from 10 April to 7 May 2023).
WHAT EMA AND ECDC SAY ABOUT VACCINATIONS IN AUTUMN
EMA and ECDC have therefore released a joint statement in which they advise giving priority in the next vaccination campaigns to people who are most at risk of contracting serious diseases.
These include the over 60s, people with weakened immune systems and underlying conditions that place them at a higher risk of developing a severe form of Covid, regardless of age, and pregnant women.
Vaccination of health workers, the institutions add, should also be considered due to their likely greater exposure to new waves and their key role in the functioning of health systems.
There is no mention of obligations for anyone, but only of recommendations. The goal is to protect the most fragile people and avoid putting health systems in crisis.
WHICH VACCINES TO USE
Although the EMA and ECDC state that "currently authorized vaccines continue to be effective in preventing hospitalization, serious illness and death due to Covid-19", they also add that "[their] protection against the virus decreases over time as that new Covid variants are emerging”.
For this, "in line with the outcome of recent meetings of international regulators and WHO, the EMA emergency task force recommends updating vaccines to target XBB strains (a subgroup of Omicron), which are become dominant in Europe and other parts of the world”.
An invitation, therefore, to pharmaceutical companies to continue updating their anti-Covid vaccines, which should be ready next autumn.
REZZA'S COMMENT
The epidemiologist Gianni Rezza, who was Director General of Prevention at the Ministry of Health during the pandemic and who, for the moment, has not been succeeded by anyone, agrees with the European indications.
"It is essential that Italy also starts working on it immediately to be ready with the new vaccination campaign in the autumn, starting if possible as early as the beginning of November with the first vaccinations," he told Sole24Ore , recalling that the audience indicated by EMA and Ecdc for vaccinations "it coincides in fact with that of the flu".
No obligation, Rezza underlines, "just a recommendation" to shelter the most fragile.
BUT WILL ITALIANS WANT TO GET VACCINATED AGAIN?
As the business newspaper observes, the real challenge will be to convince the Italians and according to Rezza the only way to overcome it will be to switch "to a seasonal vaccination […] possible only if the virus does not continue to make waves in any season of the year".
For the expert, another option, already adopted last year, is to vaccinate the over 60s and frail on the same day against both Covid and the flu. But even in this case “we need to see how much will be accepted”.
A UNIQUE VACCINE FOR INFLUENZA AND COVID
A step forward to simplify future vaccination campaigns and motivate more people to protect themselves could be a single vaccine against Covid and flu, which pharmaceutical companies have been working on for some time.
It could be both mRna and protein, like the current flu shots, explained the professor of hygiene at the University of Salento, Pierluigi Lopalco, who says he is sure of the fact that "in the future we will have combined vaccines and we will be able to switch from co-administration to a single vaccine”.
"This – underlines the professor – would be very useful if we had a very clear seasonality for the coronavirus".
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/sanita/ci-vaccineremo-ancora-contro-il-covid/ on Wed, 14 Jun 2023 09:02:22 +0000.