Green pass, vaccines, masks: the virologist Clementi speaks

The true legacy that we will carry with us when – hopefully – the Covid-19 pandemic is behind us? “The masks”. This is the prediction of the virologist Massimo Clementi, who has no doubts: “I don’t see them as a big problem”, the director of the Laboratory of Microbiology and Virology of the San Raffaele hospital in Milan and professor at the university told Adnkronos Salute Life-Health. “On the contrary, I believe – he reasons – that the masks will remain in our culture even in the future, by now. In my opinion, when the Sars-CoV-2 epidemic will hopefully end and the problem we will have to deal with will return to being the flu seasonal, I am convinced that we will see different people wearing them on the metro and on the buses. And they will no longer be, as happened before the Covid emergency, only Japanese tourists who culturally have already rooted this routine of respiratory protection. The thing “is positive – admits Clementi – It will not be bad that people use it in closed and crowded contexts, because the advantages are not insignificant. This year, for example, the flu has practically not been seen. So it would be recommended. continue to cultivate this habit “. The measures related to the Green pass? “It seems to me that a balanced line has been adopted. I would have some doubts about not foreseeing their use for local public transport, because in the end the most crowded and critical situations occur on these means, but after all these are political choices and the focus is on mediation “is reflection.” Local public transport is the aspect a little more at risk, where there are more gatherings. Is there anyone who proposes to use the Ffp2 mask? seen scenes in which it is not used at all – he explains to Adnkronos Salute – while I do not see the same risk on board a high-speed or long-distance train, where there is already an optimal distribution of passengers, on local public transport instead, yes, unless initiatives are taken to double the trains and cars in certain time slots and to increase the offer in order to reduce the influx of people. There are several options: the Green pass which perhaps was the most indigestible from a political point of view, but the other is to reorganize transport especially in the most important time slots. These remain political decisions. “On one aspect Clementi insists:” Everyone has their own competences. “The thought expressed has to do with some more ‘secular’ interventions, which sparked the debate on the Green pass and on measures such as the extension of the state of emergency, opposing those of experts, with accusations of steps backwards in the path of democracy. “It is a debate in which everyone is now involved, even philosophers”, Clementi highlighted. And the reference is to Massimo Cacciari, who raised his voice in the ‘Zona Bianca’ show, which was also attended by the infectious disease specialist Massimo Galli. Cacciari was critical of the use of a state of emergency. Clementi also spoke on the subject in a post on Facebook : “In the last two years I have at times been in dissonance with Galli for various reasons that do not count now. But if Galli finds himself debating health policy issues with a philosopher accustomed to overflowing, I am a thousand times with Galli faced with at least embarrassing health arguments “, he wrote.” He is a person I respect as a scholar, but I repeat: a each one of its competences “, he reiterates. Regarding vaccinations,” I would have expected a little more courage “in tackling the issue of vaccinating young people against Covid.” Courage on the part of the institutions in the push “to shield injection” to the over 12 “. What the virologist Clementi would have wished for is” a stronger recommendation “for these age groups. underage students, in summary. “It is okay not to make the vaccine compulsory for children, but at least we insist on the concept that it is strongly recommended that even the very young get vaccinated and there is no reason why not to do so”, he explains to ll’Adnkronos Salute. “I have seen a very positive attitude of young people towards Covid vaccination – he reflects – Just think of the high membership rates that have characterized the various open days dedicated to them. Children believe in science and manage to be free from the culture of their parents when these in some cases have different ideas. That’s why I was hoping for a little more courage from the institutions. There had been controversy over the vaccine for teachers and children. And it’s okay that you make the decision to limit the use of the Green pass excluding underage students, but it seems to me that there is a strong vaccine recommendation for over 12 “. “The slowdown in the growth of infections that seems to be occurring, as has happened in other countries that have preceded us in the spread of the Delta variant”, he continues, “could also be an expression of the fact that our vaccination campaign is traveling well. We have vaccinated the most at-risk classes and greatly reduced hospitalizations and we are also vaccinating other age groups “. For the expert, it is time to push the accelerator and “involve young people as much as possible”.