Rasi (Consulcesi): “Sputnik and Chinese vaccine more difficult to manage”

“Even if they have all the credentials to be of excellent workmanship and quality, the Sputnik and the Chinese vaccine” against Covid-19 “come from systems that use different standards of evidence from ours. Which does not mean that they are worse, but that we lack information. But not knowing is not an acceptable option for us. ” To say this, during the Consulcesi Club masterclass, is Guido Rasi, former executive director of the European Medicines Agency Ema and now engaged in the training of doctors and health professionals with the position of director of the Consulcesi Club provider. greater possible knowledge – he underlines – means being able to manage any doubts and critical issues at a social level by supporting numbers and evidence, as happened with the AstraZeneca case “. The meeting (link: https: //www.facebook.com/ConsulcesiClub/videos/1157930514646787), reserved for the first 100 enrolled in the course ‘The Covid-19 between mutation and variants’ – reports Consulcesi – was born with the aim of create an opportunity for discussion on highly topical health issues. A masterclass to ‘inform whistleblowers’, that is, the medical profession on the development of vaccines and variants. The Ecm course, in fact, is constantly updated in step with research developments. There are many doubts and questions from health professionals to which the microbiologist Guido Rasi and the infectious disease specialist Massimo Andreoni, head of Infectious Disease at the Tor Vergata Polyclinic in Rome, answer. There were four main questions from the participants. The first: “Are the mRna vaccines currently available against Covid-19 also effective against variants?”. The answer is yes and the reassurance comes from Massimo Andreoni, also supported by new studies just published – in ‘The New England Journal of Medicine’ and ‘The Lancet’ – which dispel many doubts about their effectiveness against Sars-CoV variants- 2. This is why it is important to “continue the vaccination campaign with conviction”, Andreoni warns. And again, the second question: “Should anyone who has contracted Covid-19 be vaccinated anyway?”. The answer is yes, but only with the second dose and with a minimum distance of at least 3 months from the end of the disease. “Those who have contracted Covid-19 – explains Andreoni – must get vaccinated to enhance the ability to defend ourselves from infection with a single dose. With a minimum spacing of 3 to 6 months from the end of the disease to avoid too many antibodies. disease is as if it were the ‘first dose’ and the second acts as a booster “. Third question:” What are the tests that identify the variant? “. To identify new variants, a sequencing of the virus must be done, this is the most complete way to monitor all mutations and understand if there is a real variant, that is, if the virus has mutated sufficiently, Andreoni replies who adds: “We are currently sequencing only certain regions of the virus that interest us most for the purposes of vaccine response and transmissibility. Other systems are useful, but allow us to understand only if the mutation is present, as they work on already known mutations, but not to recognize new ones “. Fourth question:” What does the vaccination plan provide for non-responders to vaccines? “. For now it does not provide a specific strategy, at the moment the health institutions are engaged in monitoring the situation with a campaign of serological tests to assess the immunization status of the population. “It is necessary to clarify who is a non-responder: in fact, health professionals often judge the response to the vaccine only by the presence or absence of antibodies, but this is not enough. The case of immunosuppressed people is emblematic – explains the expert – who in most of the cases develop few antibodies and could be considered non-responders, but if we analyze the cell-mediated response in reality they are responders even if they have not created antibodies. For many doctors and for all of us it is a new world that we understand day by day “. “For this reason – adds Rasi – the training of doctors first of all who then inform citizens is now more fundamental than ever”.