Crisanti: “Advance third dose vaccine before protection collapse”

Anticipate also in Italy the third dose of the covid vaccine to avoid the collapse of the protection. Professor Andrea Crisanti underlines this while Austria announces that the third dose of the anti-Covid vaccine will be possible already 4 months after the conclusion of the primary vaccination cycle. “I am not against such a strategy,” the virologist told Adnkronos Salute. Because, he explains, “it has the advantage of anticipating the fall of protection. The time interval between primary vaccination and the booster dose set at 6 months after the second dose is based on the fact that after 6 months the protection drops dramatically. This is the problem “, says the director of the Department of Molecular Medicine at the University of Padua. On this front – anticipating the recalls with respect to the 6 months conventionally indicated – several countries are reasoning, with the blessing of the European Medicines Agency Ema which said it considered a reflection of this type to be “understandable”. In Italy, among the voices that asked to address the question of an advance of the third dose to the fifth month from the second is that of the councilor for health of the Lazio Region, Alessio D’Amato. Would there be any security issues? What does the scientific data say? “Surely there is no risk – replies Crisanti – The third dose has now been given to millions of people in Israel, so there is no problem”. Should we therefore anticipate the administration also in Italy? “The problem is that anticipating large numbers of boosters means increasing the number of vaccinations immediately – he observes – Then, among other things, we don’t even know how long this third dose lasts in terms of protection. Do it in an interval between 5 and 6 months. all right”. What Crisanti is keen to reiterate is that the importance of the reminder: “I consider the third dose the absolute priority. The rest matters very little. It changes little to do it at the 5th or 6th month, but it is a priority to do it. And in advance of this. like, I wouldn’t see anything wrong with it. Nothing against it. ”