Covid today Italy, over 10 thousand infections. Green pass and third dose: hypothesis on the table

Covid-19 infections continue to increase in Italy. Faced with the emergency of the fourth wave, which is affecting all of Europe, the government is thinking of ‘adjusting’ the rules for the Green pass and third dose in an attempt to avoid – as is happening in other countries of the Old Continent – new lockdowns. On the duration of the green certification (from 12 months to 9 or even 6) the opinion of the CTS is expected, which will offer, once ready, an opportunity for further study. Then, next week, to land on the table of a Council of Ministers ready to confirm the mandatory nature of vaccines for health personnel and in RSA inoculation of the third dose. For now, government sources confirm, we shouldn’t go any further. Read also Contagions in Italy The guard remains high, however the photograph of covid infections in Italy, of hospitalized patients and situations in intensive care, returns an image that for now does not arouse excessive alarmism. The latest bulletin with Covid infections records 10,544 cases and 48 deaths. Intensive care (+9) and ordinary hospitalizations (+57). While the ISS monitoring shows a stable Rt at 1.21, and an incidence rising to 98. “We have an increasing trend in the incidence and a trend, albeit gradual and slow, towards an increase in the employment rate of the medical area and intensive care. Without alarming, it is a situation that shows a tendency to a certain worsening. But we are well below the values ​​registered in Eastern and Central Europe “, explains the Director General for Prevention of the Ministry of Health, Gianni Rezza. “The most significant increase in infections among 30-50 year olds”, announces the president of the Higher Institute of Health (Iss) Silvio Brusaferro. Green pass, duration Green pass from 12 to 9 months in duration. Or maybe even 6 months. The hypothesis of stringent changes to the green certificate, while Italy also has to deal with the increase in infections, is one of the hypotheses on the table for which the opinion of the CTS is expected. In the meantime, however, such a choice is fully approved by the experts. “It is correct to bring the duration of the Green pass to nine months. The data are telling us that at one year the coverage of the double dose does not reach us. But the duration of the green certificate should be differentiated according to the various situations: for the recovered last six months, for those who have had two doses of the vaccine 9 months and those who do the third dose it is reasonable to think that the certificate can be extended to one year, as some studies on the duration of the vaccine recall tell us “, says Matteo Bassetti, head of the infectious diseases department of the San Martino hospital in Genoa. “I am in favor of the decision to reduce the validity of the Green pass”, from 12 to 9 months, as is expected in Italy. “It is a step in the right direction, because in some way the duration of the” green certificate “is aligned with the duration of the” anti-Covid vaccination “protection. “In reality, even 6 months is better”, explains Professor Andrea Crisanti, who has long underlined the need to reduce the validity of the pass to 6 months. By doing so, “at this point the Green pass and the protection would be totally aligned”, concludes the director of the Department of Molecular Medicine of the University of Padua.

Third dose vaccine Third dose of vaccine 5 months – and not 6 – after the primary vaccination course against covid. Professor Franco Locatelli, coordinator of the CTS, states that one solution to stem the infections “could be to reduce the interval between the completion of the primary vaccination cycle and the booster dose from six to five months”. Anticipating the third dose of the Covid vaccine a bit “would not have negative effects”, explains Gianni Rezza, Director General of Prevention at the Ministry of Health. “At the international level, almost all countries wait 6 months from the completion of the primary cycle for the anti Covid vaccine booster”. “Shortening this interval a little would have no negative effects and could speed up the campaign. It is certainly an element to be evaluated with some attention” says Rezza.
Meanwhile, as regards the administration of the third dose of vaccine to over 40s, they will start as early as next Monday, November 22, “provided that at least six months have passed since the completion of the primary vaccination cycle.” The provision was adopted for the third dose of the Covid vaccine, reads a circular, ” in light of the evolution of the epidemiological situation in recent weeks with the progressive increase in the weekly incidence of new cases and the growth of infections, considering that the current evidence shows after about six months from vaccination an initial decline in the level of efficacy of vaccines against symptomatic forms, while maintaining a high protective capacity against severe forms of disease, taking into account the current wide availability of vaccines and the high capacity of administration of vaccination points currently operational, after consulting the Ministry of Health, without prejudice to the established priorities’ ‘. The decision, concludes the circular, was taken to “speed up the booster campaign to maintain high individual protection” in people already vaccinated with the primary cycle and “reduce the transmission of Sars-Cov2 as much as possible in the population. ” More restrictions for those who are not vaccinated, what the regions are asking for

On Covid-19 infections “we asked for a very urgent meeting with the government, we will meet on Monday or at most Tuesday”. Thus Massimiliano Fedriga, president of the Conference of the Regions, for whom the orange zone hypothesis “becomes a dramatic measure for the economy”, “we put in place measures that can protect health, a primary asset, and therefore hospitals. D on the other hand, we cannot make the economy, businesses, restaurateurs, tourism pay “for this step. “Do we want to close the lifts on the ski slopes again this season? I think it’s unacceptable,” he adds. “The proposal that I and other governors have made is not one of greater restrictions” but “if we leave things like this, it means that in the orange zone the restrictions apply to everyone”. The proposal would be that the restriction measures “may not be applied to those who are vaccinated or have had Covid”. In other words, “you could live in the white zone vaccinated and those who have had Covid”. “We will discuss to imagine further solutions. It is clear that we are in a game. The water of the virus, in this fourth wave, is raises and we must raise the level of attention “, said the Minister of Health Roberto Speranza, admitting that” not being worried would be irresponsible “. The sensitivities, in the executive as in the front of the governors, are different, just look – for one thing – to the obligation to get vaccinated: it is not currently being examined by Palazzo Chigi, but there are those in the government who do not exclude it. “We will use the method we have always used: two feet planted in scientific evidence, because science guides us. Scientific evidence – he stresses – is essential for making choices, decisions, orientations. I am thinking of the duration of the Green pass, the third dose and the measures we have decided so far in Italy. And we will do it by comparing ourselves with the territories “.