Contagions, third dose of vaccine and super Green pass: the Covid situation in Italy

Europe in the midst of the fourth wave of Covid with infections on the rise. “The situation across the European region is deeply worrying,” warned Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization’s regional director for Europe. In Italy, where 11,555 new infections and 49 deaths were recorded yesterday, the spotlight is on the timing for the third dose of the vaccine and on the hypothesis of a strengthening of the green certification, a super Green pass, but the debate is also focused on vaccination obligation. Meanwhile, between tomorrow and Tuesday, the expected meeting with the Regions. For the Minister of Public Administration, Renato Brunetta, “the road is a responsible and shared super Green pass, so as not to make everyone pay for the selfishness of some” he stressed yesterday in an interview with ‘Corriere della Sera’. And he reiterated this when speaking at an event promoted in Mestre by Forza Italia Venezia: “The debate is: do we do as in Germany, where however the conditions are more dramatic and problematic, or do we continue with the Green pass line, perhaps strengthening it? the second path, which is the one that is maturing in the government. Without dramatizing, but we must be ready. We can reward the vaccinated and allow those who are not vaccinated to suffer the constraints and restrictions provided for by chromatism. The great majority of Italians – he concluded Brunetta – agrees with this vision “.” I don’t think the vaccination obligation is very simple – said the mayor of Milan, Beppe Sala – I read about formulas to put the Green pass more and more at the center of the things that can be done and that can’t be done, that would make a lot more sense. “The spotlight is on Christmas. “We will do our best – said the Foreign Minister, Luigi Di Maio – to build a country that can remain open at that time, because the fundamental point is that the alternative to Green Pass and vaccines is to close and we do not want get to this “. “We must follow what the scientific community says – he remarked – which now tells us to do the third doses and go ahead with vaccinations”. GREEN PASS DURATION – Walter Ricciardi, advisor to the Minister of Health, excludes the lockdown and also discards the hypothesis of general vaccination obligation. “There must be an obligation for those who are professionally in contact with fragile people. Children are unvaccinated and fragile people”, he said, extending the discussion to school staff as well. “The general obligation”, however, “is too divisive and extreme a measure, it is worth promoting a reinforced Green pass that induces people to get vaccinated”. And the green pass, in effect, is about to change: “There is an adjustment in terms of duration. We have seen that after the basic vaccination cycle, 6 months later, there is a decrease in protection and there is a need for the third dose. The 12-month green pass is too long. Israel automatically expires it after 6 months, we must review it based on the effective protection, which passes through the third booster dose “. TIMES THIRD DOSE – “We still have an advantage over other countries, if the numbers worsen, there are a whole series of options to be put in place to maintain this type of advantage – the coordinator of the Technical Committee explained to SkyTG24 two days ago. -scientific, Franco Locatelli – And it is clear that these are choices that must be made wisely, they belong to politics, technical bodies can give support. For example, restrictions limited to the unvaccinated is one option, another could be that to lower the interval of the third dose from the current six months to five months, precisely because we have evidence from Israel that the booster dose has helped to strengthen protection against serious or even fatal disease but also to markedly reduce viral circulation through a sterilizing immunity “VACCINE PROTECTION AND THIRD DOSE – In the latest weekly report on the trend of Covid-19 in Italy, the ISS explains that “after 6 months from the completion of the vaccination cycle, the effectiveness in preventing any symptomatic or asymptomatic diagnosis of Covid-19 drops from 79% to 55% compared to non-vaccinated people”. Even half a year after immunization remains “high”, however reducing, “the vaccine efficacy in preventing cases of severe disease: for vaccinated with a complete cycle for less than 6 months it is equal to 95% compared to unvaccinated ones, while it is equal to 82% for those vaccinated with a complete cycle for more than 6 months compared to those not vaccinated “. DELTA PLUS VARIANT – “Between those who have not yet had the vaccine and those who do not want to do it, it becomes a problem to manage the situation right now, with such an aggressive virus” as Sars-CoV-2 proves to be even with the new Indian variant , the AY.4.2, renamed Delta plus, which “according to the latest studies is 50 times stronger than the original strain”, explains Arnaldo Caruso, president of the Italian Society of Virology (Siv-Isv) to Adnkronos Salute. Stronger because “more efficient in replication”, therefore able to run very fast, risking to prevail over the others in the future. Compared to the Delta variant currently dominant, the Delta plus “is still a minority in Italy – confirmed the number one of Italian virologists – But in England it is spreading considerably, proving to be able to ‘take the stage’. is happening in England “, according to the expert, the mutant AY.4.2” could also become dominant in the future “.