Vaccini, Locatelli: “Third dose? Uncertainty about need, but prepare”

“We have no evidence to date of how long the immune response conferred by the anti Covid vaccines lasts” with two doses, “and hence uncertainty about the need and the time in which the administration of a third dose. But what is important is to be prepared “. This was highlighted by Franco Locatelli, spokesman of the Technical Scientific Committee (CTS) for the coronavirus emergency and president of the Superior Health Council (Css), guest of the Life Sciences Pharma & Biotech Summit organized by ‘Il Sole 24 Ore’. Read also “Preparation must be a sort of North Star that must guide the policies of the country to ensure that the conditions we had to face in the spring of 2020 no longer occur”, he added. This “means creating a research and development structure for vaccines that in interpandemic periods can also largely deal with the problem of antibiotic resistance, also through the development of monoclonal antibodies which represent an innovative strategy with great prospects also in this area, as well as in the management of Covid patients. It means making the doses available for the country that may be necessary for the administration of this third dose “. It should be remembered, added the expert, “that in fact Italy in the context of the European joint procurement has already secured for the next 2 years, 2022 and 2023, something like 100 million doses of mRna vaccines and this shows the ability to manage the need to administer a third dose and any annual boosters. Creating a vaccine R&D structure is absolutely fundamental and essential and everything could also have geopolitical values: the vaccines developed in our country could be used to guarantee to be able to face globally what is a pandemic emergency. We are very clear that, if the situation cannot be brought under control at the international level, the risk of emergence of viral variants is real “.