Fourth dose of Covid vaccine, in three months less than 1 in 3 made it

In three months, the fourth dose of the anti-Covid vaccine did not convince the Italians that they could do it. For this reason, the appeals of the Minister of Health Roberto Speranza continue to the frail and the elderly to make the recall as soon as possible, also given the rise in the contagion curve. According to data from the Vaccination Campaign Completion Unit, updated to date and published online, “the second booster dose of the anti-Covid vaccine (or fourth dose) was administered to 1,274,426, 28% of the audience” therefore less than 1 out of 3. “There are 343,738 immunocompromised people, 43.4% of the total, who have completed the vaccination cycle with the booster for at least 4 months”, highlight the data. While 355,763 (8% of the population potentially subject to the second booster dose) recovered after the first booster dose for a maximum of 6 months. The fourth dose started on March 1st for the immunosuppressed. With the circular of 8 April 2022, the Ministry of Health then recommended the administration of a second booster dose, after a minimum interval of at least four months (120 days) from the first booster dose, for people aged 80 and over. ; guests of residential homes for the elderly; the ‘over 60s’ fragile. From the data of the Vaccination Campaign Complement Unit it emerges that 899 thousand doses were administered out of over 4.6 million candidates, less than 20% in the ‘over 80’ range. In the 70-79 age group, 2% of the immunocompromised received the fourth dose; in the 60-69 age group, only 1.1%. “It is difficult to trace these numbers now, given that the updated vaccines will arrive in the autumn”, explains Antonello Maruotti, professor of Statistics at Lumsa University and co-founder of StatGroup19, an inter-academic group of statistical studies on the Covid pandemic, to Adnkronos Salute -19. The not encouraging data on the fourth doses is also confirmed by the latest independent report of the Gimbe Foundation. “The national coverage rate for the fourth doses to immunosuppressed people is 42% with clear regional differences: from 9.7% in Calabria to 100% in Piedmont”. Observing the table of the Gimbe report, it is noted that at the bottom of the ranking of the fourth dose coverage there are Calabria (9.7%), Molise (9.9%), Basilicata (12%). While in the lead in addition to Piedmont (100%), we find Valle d’Aosta (86.3%), Emilia Romagna (81.2%) and then drop to 58.7% of Tuscany. Lazio is 38.7% and Lombardy 28%. “The data coming from the studies on the fourth doses in Israel show that they increase the protection against serious illness but not with respect to infection – observes Maruotti – It should also be highlighted that if we look at the relationship between the number of Covid hospitalized and that of the positives this figure is half of that of three months ago, so the severity of the disease is also decreasing. Then it is clear that there are more admissions to the hospital because we have many cases but the employment of intensive care is very similar to last year. These – concludes the teacher – could be some of the reasons that limited the adhesion of the Italians who could do the fourth dose “.