Delta Italia variant, Bassetti: “No panic, the vaccine works”

“It is true that cases are increasing, but hospitalizations and deaths are as before, very low, and this is because the vaccines work all right against the variant.” Matteo Bassetti, director of the ‘San Martino’ Infectious Diseases Clinic in Genoa, speaks with Libero of the Covid situation and the Delta variant in Great Britain, arguing that “whoever talks about ‘lockdown’ makes psychological terrorism. You shouldn’t say that word: it doesn’t make sense. They don’t even talk about it in England where the Delta variant is largely predominant. . In the United Kingdom they have simply postponed reopening, fine, other than red areas and various nonsense I hear these days! And whoever says that in England the situation continues to worsen cannot read the numbers, or does not want to. “” Pfizer and Modern – explains Bassetti – even before the recall, they cover it up to 90% Astrazeneca at 75: there is a Scottish work published in Lancet, which is one of the most prestigious scientific journals. With the recall there is a 95% reduction in hospitalizations and deaths. An English report published a few days ago confirmed the data: the recall with Astrazeneca raises coverage to 85% and with Pfizer and Moderna it reaches 95. 5% remains out, of course, but it is a calculated risk, it is impossible to have full coverage. The information coming from the United Kingdom says that the Delta variant gives mild symptoms, similar to colds, but beware, we are talking mainly about unvaccinated young people. In Italy, in August, it will be the predominant variant, as happened with the English one between February and March. It will replace the other types of viruses. It is reasonable to assume that almost all contagions towards the end of the summer will be related to the Delta. We must continue with vaccination, which is the only way we have to fight the virus, and we must reach 85%, no longer 70 which was the threshold initially indicated for herd immunity ”. According to Bassetti, tracing is now possible: “In Italy we sequence just 1.5% of positive swabs, while the European guidelines indicate 5 as a starting point and 10 as a goal. One thing is to trace 10-15 thousand infections a day, as it was before, another when there are less than a thousand: it means that each Region has to analyze just 40-50 swabs, if we are not capable we have not understood anything. With such low numbers you have to be able to know where each case is coming from ”.