Chrysants, health is a common good that cannot be assigned to one political party or another

Tomorrow the new book by the virologist Maurizio Crisanti will be published, written with the journalist Michele Mezza and entitled “Caccia al virus” (Donzelli publisher). The volume opens with an appeal to collective responsibility, to overcoming divisions and polemics – political and scientific – with a premise explicitly addressed to Italians. The ‘Dear fellow citizens’ with which your letter begins manifests this intent, the need for social and political cohesion. “It is not possible to assign (and blame) one political party or another the entire responsibility for these problems – he replies to Adnkronos – Health is a common good to be protected and this is not discussed”. to conflicting political choices and to opposition between left and right virologists, with different visions of society and of how to treat the community (public / private health; hospitals versus clinics, etc.). “We need to put an end to the conflicts – says the director of the Department of Molecular Medicine of the University of Padua – There is only one dualism that I recognize and that is that between disease and health. However, I find the controversy on such issues absurd”. (continued) ‘I recognize only one dualism, the one between disease and health’ Can ethics and medicine go hand in hand? “Well, surely Nazism proves that this is not the case … But, to be really clear, let’s say that this doesn’t necessarily have to happen. They should go hand in hand. Ethics should inform medical practice, but politics must be able to interpret this. thinking correctly “. Today is the day of the white regions in most of Italy: 12 are with zero deaths. We’re doing pretty well. Do you agree with the measures adopted or do you fear the ‘free all’? “I do not want to comment on these decisions. Surely the fact that the death toll is decreasing is a good thing. But we must not forget that it is something we have already seen last year. The only difference there is, this time, is vaccination. An important difference, which bodes well for the autumn. For the rest everything is the same. “Will we get rid of the pandemic this summer, at the end of the year or will we have to wait until ’22? “The question we must ask ourselves, in my opinion, is another: does Italy remain in a position of vulnerability or not? Already now we are talking about the third dose of vaccine to be done in October. It would be right, I think, to clarify with clarity what will happen in the autumn. Because this is the only way to raise the problem of the future, not by establishing future dates. There are several aspects to be taken into account. First of all, the logistical one: virus surveillance is achieved by tracing of the infected. We are approaching herd immunity with vaccines, which however have a limited duration of protection. Finally, another aspect to consider are the variants, which can somehow evade the immune response induced by the vaccine. in such a framework it is really difficult “.