Covid vaccine, Bassetti: “No obligation. Call once a year”

“The vaccination obligation is difficult to impose on the entire population, we have to find different tools”. So Matteo Bassetti, director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic of the San Martino hospital in Genoa. “The Anglo-Saxons, for example, in the past have established for diseases such as measles that those who took it and were not vaccinated would pay for hospitalization. This – says Bassetti – is obviously something that can be reached later”. “In the meantime, let’s start to moralize also because – underlines the infectious disease specialist – I think that out of 100 who say they are not in favor of the vaccine, there is less than 10% of hard and pure no-vax. vaccine-skeptics or vaccine-hesitant and, in my opinion, with the data we have and speaking you convince them. So we really have to do door-to-door activities, call to call. And it would be important – Bassetti relaunches – to carry out a widespread communication campaign on this that we have not done so far. The ministry should take care of it. Heavy investments should be made – he concludes – in all media: newspapers, radio, television, social networks and everything that is possible to reach people “. “The third dose? I wouldn’t call it that, but I’ll recall after a year, which we will all do once a year,” he adds. “It is likely that vaccine antibodies last a year and therefore it is likely that those like me who took the first dose in December will have the booster dose by next December”. “Maybe we can bring it forward by a month and we’ll see. but – underlines the infectious disease specialist – the concept of booster at 6 months is certainly not valid. On this we already know that those who had the vaccination among the first in December are still full of antibodies and practically six months have passed “. As for the serological test to assess the need for a recall case by case, Bassetti clarifies: “There is a study in progress and it will be evaluated on the basis of the data of the vaccinated persons within the clinical study that was used for the registration of the vaccine. people who participated in the experimentation – he explains – will do the checks and tell us if and when there will be a need to do a possible third dose. degrees and avoid putting the cart before the horse. “