Vaccine obligation yes or no? What the experts say

In the aftermath of the announcement by French President Emmanuel Macron on the compulsory anti-Covid vaccine for health personnel and on the pass to go to the restaurant, to the cinema or on the train, the debate also ignites in Italy, in light of the resumption of infections and Covid variant, and the positions of experts on the subject follow one another. Read also The Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza, underlines that “France on the obligation of vaccination of health personnel” against Covid-19 “has followed our approach. The decree was approved in Italy as early as April 1. We have been the first European country to introduce this obligation. Others are following us “. Matteo Bassetti, director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic of the San Martino Polyclinic Hospital in Genoa, invites you to learn from beyond the Alps. “The hospitals have almost completely emptied themselves of Covid patients and resuscitations have returned to take care of all the other patients – he writes on Facebook – And while in Italy someone who seems to live on the moon proposes new yellow areas or other darker colors, in France is obliged to vaccinate health workers and from August you will no longer be able to go to restaurants, bars, trains, buses, cinemas and theaters without being vaccinated or having a negative swab. From 21 August it applies to all those who have more than 12 years. We watch and learn. In football we are European champions and in the management of the pandemic and the green-pass? For that slice of the population that has not yet immunized against Covid-19, “the best strategy is to explain that the vaccine protects 100% from serious disease and we have the proof”, says to Adnkronos Salute the infectious disease specialist Stefano Vella, professor of Health at the Catholic University of Rome and former president of the Italian drug agency Aifa, commenting on the tightening in France on the freedoms granted to those who are not vaccinated. “And then, what I want to emphasize to young people, taking this virus is not good at all and there are still unknown side effects – he stresses – more than a vaccine, I would be more worried about catching an unknown virus. For this reason, speaking of vaccination obligation is not true. it’s a heresy. If I want to go to Africa I have to present a certificate with all the vaccines made otherwise they won’t let me in and I don’t feel limited in my freedom “. “We must also stop saying that the Delta variant is only more contagious – warns Vella – If we look at the English data, hospitalizations and intensive care have also increased. Maybe there will be fewer elderly people, and therefore there will be fewer deaths , but young people are more affected “. Vella recalls that “this is a virus that we do not yet know what it is doing” and it has been seen that “it can do strange things. It stays on you for a long time, moves in the nervous system and does damage”. “The idea of ​​a ‘do-it-yourself’ vaccination, optional and arbitrary, now seems to me really ‘out of logic’ and above all it seems useless, because it leaves critical highways open in the time of the alleged ‘end of the epidemic’ – he tells Adnkronos Health, immunologist Mauro Minelli, responsible for the South of the Italian Foundation of Personalized Medicine – It is no longer time to discuss the ‘vaccine yes or vaccine no’, precisely because at the moment of the hoped-for restart, the Delta variant risks making us lose the advantage partially acquired. This is why the solution decided by the French government to extend the vaccination obligation to those who have to face a tourist, social and professional impact is not bizarre “. “The risk is that, for incomprehensible choices of a few, all the others will also have to pay the price of any new restrictions. The anti-Covid vaccine is an extraordinarily important weapon and at the moment it is also the only truly effective one”, he recalls the specialist. “This is a moment in which all over the world, in Europe in particular and in some countries such as Spain, Portugal and the UK, there is an important circulation of the Delta variant” of Sars-CoV-2 “which is characterized by a contagiousness definitely higher than the already more contagious English variant. The data we have available tell us of people with a single dose of vaccine who can develop pathology in some cases even serious “says Franco Locatelli, spokesperson for the Technical Scientific Committee (Cts) for the coronavirus emergency and president of the Higher Health Council, guest of the Life Sciences Pharma & Biotech Summit organized by ‘Il Sole 24 Ore’. “This explains the choice to complete the vaccination cycle as quickly as possible – he underlines – It must be done with the same determination we have had in recent months and following the plan developed by the extraordinary commissioner Figliuolo”. “I say this as president of the Higher Health Council: it goes “anti-Covid” vaccination of teaching and non-teaching school staff is encouraged and strongly recommended. Today there is still a disparity between regions in “staff coverage” that must be resolutely eliminated. There are some regions that have immunization rates higher than 90% and others that barely exceed 60%. This heterogeneity must be eliminated in order to make the coverage of the school staff homogeneous and create all the conditions for a continuous resumption “of classroom teaching, is the message launched by Locatelli. “I strongly expressed my opinion on the compulsory vaccination against Covid for health personnel” he recalls. While “the problem that concerns the school staff is more complex. I believe that the main road is much more that of persuasion and conviction, to proceed both with the vaccination of school staff and that of adolescents and the parents of these adolescents must absolutely trust “. The expert explains that it is necessary to provide “all the arguments that science certainly does not lack”. “A strong message must be given and the recommendation” to the vaccine is “to be promoted also through media campaigns. Convincing everyone to vaccinate is the only strategy to get out of it”, he concludes. For Roberto Burioni, professor at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan, “not getting vaccinated, on the basis of unequivocal safety and efficacy data, is a self-defeating, irrational choice that damages the whole society. Politics must decide whether to allow the the freedom to behave in this way is irresponsible. France has decided not to “tweet the virologist. Still on Twitter Burioni then writes: “Curious convergences. In France, extreme right and extreme left united in the defense of no-vax. Meanwhile, Macron’s announcement alone has led to vaccination over a million ‘hesitant’. Dedicated to those who ‘ hard ways don’t work, you have to convince ‘”. “It is not fair to carry the burden of the inconvenience caused by those who do not vaccinate out of ignorance and selfishness to those who have had the civic sense to get vaccinated. This is the gist of Macron’s (sacrosanct) speech”, adds the scientist on the social network. Fabrizio Pregliasco, Professor of Hygiene at the State University of Milan, promotes France’s decision to introduce the use of the Green pass to access bars, restaurants, transport and all events with more than 50 people. “For a penalty taker like me, it’s a good idea, so it’s welcome to us too,” says the virologist at Adnkronos Salute. “I believe it is the element to facilitate adherence to the vaccine. And they did well in France – recalls Pregliasco – even in the advertising campaign on the side effects of the vaccine”, where, for example, two people kissing are shown. “Side effect that in this case is a positive effect: that of being able to live and objectively resume activities”. Therefore binding the main activities to the Green pass “is there, at this point. It is a way – he underlines – to be able to reconcile a civil coexistence with the virus. So each of us takes responsibility and the burden of adverse events that to happen, however, it is done with a view to solidarity and the overall quality of life of the community. We must also think about others, about ourselves and our frailties “.