Heterologous vaccination? “It is an expression that can only be understood by a minority, which in any case connects it to the homonymous fertilization in which the sperm comes from a donor and not from the partner. Therefore it is a misleading formulation. The common citizen does not know what we are talking about”. The linguist Valeria Della Valle, academic correspondent of Crusca, replied to the Adnkronos on the possible confusion generated by the use of medical neologisms during the pandemic, who states: “The first duty of institutions should be to communicate clearly with words and expressions that all citizens can understand. In this perspective, even the term ‘crossing vaccinal’ is not suitable, because the two words put together complicate the ideas. While the clear expression for all could be ‘mixed vaccination’, given that the recall is carried out with a drug other than that used in the first dose “. “Even Minister Speranza spoke of a mix of vaccines referring to the mixture – recalls the linguist – But I find it convincing above all to look at the numbers: in a search I did online I was able to verify that the term ‘vaccinal crossing’ is typed 147 thousand times; the expression ‘heterologous vaccination’ has one million 130 thousand entries; ‘mixed vaccination’ two and a half million. This means that the average citizen, with a low medical background and who does not speak English, has a better understanding of ‘vaccination mixed ‘rather than other idioms “. “We read among other things – notes the academic della Crusca – that ‘mixed vaccination’ is the expression chosen by Aifa itself, which therefore opts for a terminology that we can all understand regardless of our degree of culture because it is simple and entirely Italian, not cryptic and technical as ‘heterologous’. My opinion is therefore to aim for transparency – he concludes – I do not discuss the correctness of the expression ‘heterologous vaccination’ but the correctness also depends on the degree of comprehensibility. Because non-understanding leads to disorientation ” . (by Roberta Lanzara)