Third vaccine dose, Palù: “Very high efficacy against infection”

“The third dose of the vaccine prevents infection with very high efficacy.” Giorgio Palù, president of Aifa, focuses on the characteristics of the covid vaccine and the effectiveness of the third dose. “We have a vaccine designed on a virus that circulated two and a half years ago, it still has the ability to protect us in 90% of the severe event. Talking about herd immunity no longer has meaning. It used to have it when regional communities lived in a certain isolation, today there is no corner of the planet that is not populated. We cannot think of extinguishing the circulation of the virus with 5 billion people still not vaccinated or continents not yet vaccinated “, says Professor Palù speaking at the press point of the governor of Veneto, Luca Zaia. After 6 months, according to the studies, “there is a decline in protection from infection. If the Wuhan virus were still circulating, we would have 95% protection against infection. Now, however, the Delta variant circulates, which is more contagious and melts the virus with the cell very quickly. It makes no sense to talk about herd immunity given the presence of this variant, which has become dominant all over the world even with respect to other more immune-evasive variants. The virus is adapting to become endemic “, he says again. “The third dose, what the heck is it? Is it something new? No. It has existed since we practiced vaccinology as a science. All vaccines have a third dose, it is done 6 months after the second dose and is called ‘booster’. After the third dose we have a 10-fold explosion of the humoral and cellular response, “says Palù. “This third dose, made with the vaccine designed on the virus 2 years ago, covers all mutants at the level of infection: it prevents infection with very high efficacy. Then there is no vaccine that protects 100%, because not everyone has the genes. to stimulate the response “, he continues. Green pass chapter:” What’s the problem with switching the green pass into a vaccination certificate? The green pass was an excellent choice of health and economic policy “.