Vaccine 5-11 years, Crisanti: “Caution, we await more data”

“I think that an excess of prudence does not hurt: we wait for a little more data and then we will safely vaccinate the children”. Professor Andrea Crisanti invites to slow down the process for the covid vaccine for children aged 5-11. “There are the first Pfizer data on 3000-3500 children in the United States, there are no side effects. To be sure not to score an own goal and to avoid giving a weapon to no vax, I think that an excess of prudence does not it hurts: we wait a little longer for data and then we will safely vaccinate the children “, says the director of the Department of Microbiology of the University of Padua in Agorà. In Europe, there is an increase in infections. “The dynamics of the fourth wave depends on two factors: the number of people vaccinated and the duration of the vaccine. The combination of these 2 elements determines how many people are protected. In Italy we did most of the vaccinations between April and the end of July, we use of a still very high protection, given that the protection remains high for 6 months “, explains Crisanti. “The protection against infection after 6 months drops from 95% to 40%. The positive news is that after 6 months it still remains high against the symptoms and against the probability of becoming seriously ill, it drops from 90% to 65%” , he adds. “In 2-3 months we will have most of the people vaccinated between April and July still protected from the risk of hospitalization, but they can become infected and transmit the virus. We need to focus on the third doses at this point. The unvaccinated are relatively unvaccinated. few, forcing themselves to vaccinate would change little. The effort to get them vaccinated would be high, as would the political price that one risks paying. It is not worth it, “he says again. “There was some hesitation on the part of politics and the CTS to immediately encourage the third dose. It was perfectly right to administer it to the frail, but I think it had to be said right away and explained that vaccine protection would be limited. at 6 months as far as transmission is concerned. There is nothing wrong with the third dose, many vaccination protocols are based on 3 doses “.