“This autumn will be the litmus test, to get out of the pandemic and to make it endemic. We must try to push vaccination, as indicated in the guidelines of the Ministry of Health, appealing to citizens to take the recommendations of the same Ministry. and the Higher Institute of Health “.
These are the words of the regional councilor for health, Raffaele Donini, on the sidelines of a conference at Sant’Orsola. “For those over the age of 60, in addition to the fragile and immunosuppressed categories, vaccination even with the fourth dose is recommended. You can book it from today and we already have 700 thousand new vaccines which are also more suited to the most popular variants, such as the Omicron “.
You can book at the pharmacy, with the electronic health record or through the Cup. The vaccination will be administered mainly by general practitioners, who in agreement with the Region have agreed to do so in their clinics, and also in branched public health structures. in the territory.
Under the age of 60, anyone who wants to get vaccinated can do so with the same access methods. And will the Covid vaccination proceed along with the flu vaccine? “These are indications that the ISS has not yet given, even though we know that at the end of October we will also begin vaccinating against seasonal flu, anticipating the times a little, as has now been the custom for some years. It is important for us. that, in general, in Emilia-Romagna vaccination remains at high levels, to protect above all the most vulnerable category: the elderly “.
The new vaccines against Covid
After the authorization of Ema and Aifa and the green light from the Ministry of Health, also the new bivalent formulations of m-RNA vaccines adapted to the latest variants are available for vaccination against Covid-19: two types present, original / omicron BA.1 by Spikevax (Moderna) and Comirnaty (Pfizer), and original / BA.4-5 by Comirnaty.
In Emilia-Romagna, over 700,000 doses (717,094) have already been delivered, ready to be administered also with the involvement of general practitioners, after the agreement recently signed with the Region. The Regional Department of Health Policies has already given indications to the Health Authorities on how to proceed with the vaccination campaign.
Vaccines – as specified in the joint circular of the Ministry of Health, the Italian Medicines Agency and the Higher Institute of Health sent to the Regions – are intended for the second booster dose for all citizens aged 12 and over who request them, provided they already have received the first booster dose for at least 120 days.
Their use, however, is primarily recommended for three categories:
- As a second booster (therefore fourth dose) for all 60-year-olds and over and for people aged 12 and over with high frailty motivated by concomitant / pre-existing pathologies; for healthcare workers, residents and caregivers of residential facilities and pregnant women. In all cases, at least 120 days must have passed since the first recall).
- As a first booster dose (then third dose) in favor of subjects aged 12 years or older who have not yet received it, regardless of the vaccine used to complete the primary course; always provided that a minimum interval of 120 days has elapsed from the completion of the primary cycle.
- Finally, as a second booster dose, upon evaluation and specialist clinical judgment, to subjects with marked impairment of the immune response, for causes related to the underlying disease or to pharmacological treatments and to subjects undergoing haematopoietic or solid organ transplantation, who have already received a three-dose primary course (standard primary course plus additional dose at least 28 days after the last dose) and a subsequent first booster dose, at least 120 days after the last dose. In fact, this is the ‘fifth dose’, which as the ministerial note clearly specifies for the moment is reserved only for this last category of people.
To proceed with the administration, citizens can refer to their healthcare company and their general practitioner. And it is confirmed that the booster vaccination can also be performed at the affiliated pharmacies participating in the program.
In the note that the Regional Department of Health Policies sent today to the Health Authorities, it is also reported what the national circular itself specifies, namely that “there is no evidence to be able to express a judgment of preferential use of one of the different vaccines bivalents available today, believing that all can expand protection against different variants and can help maintain optimal protection against Covid-19 disease “; therefore, no distinction is envisaged with respect to the two new bivalent m-RNA formulations, of which “use is recommended as a priority”.
Health, Donini to the new government: “No cuts and expensive bills”
“The first request of the Emilia-Romagna Region to the new government is the same one that we have been reiterating for a year now, every day, to the outgoing government: that of promoting a policy aimed at saving public health from new cuts and re-entry plans to charged to the Regions. They have spent so many resources to fight the pandemic, which record a huge expenditure for electricity and which, for the third consecutive year, cannot bear this additional outlay compared to ordinary expenses “.
“There have been more interventions by the outgoing government, necessary but not yet sufficient to protect the public health of many regions of Italy, including Emilia-Romagna. We have been among the most affected by the pandemic, we have spent many un still reimbursed but all recognized by the Ministry of the Treasury, all promptly reported and all timely, also on indication of the State “.
The regional councilor then remarked: “We are the ones who, together with other Regions, have more public health, and therefore it is clear that more hospitals also means more energy costs. We must once and for all apply a principle, that of reimbursement of energy costs and Covid expenses, not so much because of the number of the resident population, which becomes a wrong thing, but rather on the basis of the expenses actually incurred. On behalf of all the Regions, I will represent this aspect “to the next government, concludes Donini.