Vaccine Johnson & Johnson lasts 2 months? Bassetti ‘against’ Crisanti

Need the second dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine in Italy against covid? Does the effectiveness of the first dose only last 2 months? Who got the vaccine in June is already discovered? Between Rome and Milan, passing through Genoa and Padua, the debate among experts on the Janssen vaccine is ignited, the only single-dose among those approved in Europe against the coronavirus. To ignite the discussion, the words of Professor Andrea Crisanti in Piazzapulita. “The Johnson & Johnson Covid vaccine after 2 months in fact hardly protects anything anymore. This is something that should surprise us all. This vaccination was started when Johnson & Johnson was aware of the vaccine’s limitations,” said Crisanti. . The expert’s words obviously did not go unnoticed. And they were rejected by Matteo Bassetti. “The data for the J&J vaccine, published in July, say that there is a sustained and robust response for at least 8 months. After that there have been reports that after 2 months the subjects who have taken the single dose see a reduction in protection, but starting to reduce does not mean that antibodies disappear in two months, “the director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic of the San Martino Polyclinic in Genoa told Adnkronos Salute. “We are careful to communicate otherwise people who have made this vaccine think they are not covered and they are not. We do not terrorize 1.8 million people in Italy who have done so,” he added. “In our country, some people like to do ‘wolf to wolf’ to get headlines and front pages of newspapers. But in this way we do not do the good of the people”, he continued. “The fact is that protection tends to drop more of the other vaccines and a second dose is important which at this point in Italy will be done in a heterologous way “, with mRna vaccines, explained virologist Fabrizio Pregliasco, professor at the State University of Milan. But is it true that the single-dose vaccine does not protect at all? “It’s not true – Pregliasco braked – he protects less. It makes no sense to unjustly panic 1.5 million people when protection is there anyway”. Crisanti “has highlighted perhaps somewhat excessively what is the objective data of reduction, but not of disappearance” of the protective effect of the vaccine. “It goes down” and for this reason the second dose “is a recommendation and a suggestion. We will now see – concluded the expert – what will be the indications” of the Italian Medicines Agency “Aifa for those who have done so less than 6 months ago “.” The Johnson & Johnson vaccine lasts a little shorter than the other anti-Covid vaccines, but it has the single-dose on its side. There is no alarm, however. It is true that there is a slow and progressive loss, but we are talking about “loss compared to” maximum effectiveness. The message must therefore not pass that after a few months there are no more antibodies. What I can recommend is, for the categories that have to take the third dose, to opt “, in the case of the second of J&J, “to do it after 4 months and not wait 6 months” highlighted Massimo Andreoni, head of Infectious Diseases at the Tor Vergata Polyclinic in Rome and scientific director of the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases (Simit). Many young people have chosen to do the J&J single-dose in summer to have the Green pass and be able to move freely. “Let’s say that if they have to make the recall, they will be able to do it in January 2022”, Andreoni specified. “The protection of the vaccine is long and, even if there is a significant reduction in the antibody titre, it does not mean that you are not protected – the expert remarked – We must reason that we pass from 95% to 90%, it is not that we go down to 20% “. According to the immunologist Mauro Minelli, responsible for Southern Italy of the Foundation for Personalized Medicine,” the judgment of those who believed that a single dose of the J&J vaccine could be equivalent to two doses of similar adenoviral vector vaccine or other mRna vaccines. Subsequent checks tell us, in fact, that the immune coverage after that single dose is not able to offer the same protection time interval guaranteed by the two doses of the other vaccines “. “This does not detract from the safety of the product and that on the contrary it supports the follow-up practices, which are basic in the final development of the treatment protocols”, he added. “In my opinion – continued Minelli – it would be enough to consider these simple elements of fund since we have all been busy for some time, and patients have easily adapted, to modify the number of administrations and the temporal distance between them – observed Minelli, returning to the controversies triggered by the intervention of Crisanti – Two years of pandemic should have us something already taught, above all prudence in addressing users who are not always fully aware “.