Covid vaccine, Abrignani: “Third dose? Starting from the frail and elderly, you need reinforcement”

The third dose will be taken and served first to frail people, that is, the elderly and sick with immune system problems. In the meantime, however, the ongoing campaign must be completed. This was stated in an interview with ‘La Repubblica’ by Sergio Abrignani, an immunologist at the University of Milan and a member of the CTS. “It could serve to give a boost, that is, an enhancement of the immune response, to those who have already closed the cycle. We know, thanks to the experience on other vaccines, such as that against hepatitis B, that a new administration gives a reinforcement compared to first two doses. It will be useful, for example, for those who have responded poorly to the first vaccination cycle but also for those who still have excellent coverage, because it could serve to prolong the immunological memory “, underlines Abrignani. The third dose, according to Abrignani, serves against existing variants such as Delta: “We have seen that the vaccine covers 90-95% from severe forms and around 70-80% against infection. future a variant that escapes and unfortunately should take over, then it will be necessary to do a booster with a different vaccine, therefore not with the booster I was talking about before “, he adds. At this time in the Western world, he notes,” about 98% of the dead are over 60 years old. So we are moving towards a third dose for these people. First, however, we need to protect the frail who do not respond to the vaccine due to their condition. They are, for example, subjects who undergo chemotherapy, who they have immunodeficiency syndromes, or they take high doses of cortisone. There are not many in our country, at most half a million people “.