Covid vaccine, Rezza: “It doesn’t necessarily mean it will have to be done every year”

“It is possible” that in Italy “there will be a further recall” of the vaccine against Covid 19, but “of course it would involve administering a single dose. The campaign would be very simplified, neither more nor less as it is done for the flu . Even if it is not said that then it will be necessary to continue to be vaccinated every year, this is absolutely not said “. Gianni Rezza, general director of Prevention of the Ministry of Health, wanted to clarify this by answering questions during the press conference on the analysis of the data of the COVID-19 regional monitoring of the Control Room. Read also “Probably a further vaccination” against Covid-19 “will be in things, even if we do not yet know when, how and for whom”, said Rezza. At the moment, he stressed, “there are few long-term data” relating to the real world, “while we have those of the tens of thousands of people who had participated in the phase 3 studies”. Currently “the data tells us that at 8-9 months the immune response” conferred by the vaccine “is still good and that the protection is still good”. However, the fact that “there is a certain circulation of variants” of Sars-CoV-2 “that can partially decrease the effectiveness of vaccines” should be monitored. In these cases, “if we have a high antibody response we neutralize even those variants well. If, on the other hand, the immune response is reduced, then some problems could be created. This is one of the reasons why – highlighted the Prevention DG – the British are planning now a campaign in October, and they are considering starting vaccinating people at high risk of serious illness and probably health workers as well, to keep hospitals and other Covid-free health facilities. “