Seven months after vaccination there is no reduction inefficacy of Covid-19 vaccines at mRna in the general population, while a slight decrease in protection from infection (symptomatic or asymptomatic) is observed in some specific groups. This was stated in the fourth report, by the ISS Working Group and the Ministry of Health “COVID-19 vaccine surveillance” on the joint analysis of data from the integrated COVID-19 surveillance and the national vaccine register.
We reviewed data from more than 29 million people who received at least one dose of the mRna vaccine, followed up until August 29, 2021. Efficacy was assessed by comparing the incidence of infections (symptomatic and asymptomatic), hospitalizations and deaths at different time intervals after the second dose with that observed in the 14 days after the first dose, considered as the control period.
In short: according to this document of the National Institute of Health, vaccines are protective. But it is necessary to understand well what we can expect and what the objective of vaccination must be because it is possible to limit the circulation of the virus and reduce the risk of serious illness for people.
What is the goal?
When it comes to vaccinations, remember that not all vaccines have the same goals. There are some that somehow completely avoid the risk of a certain infection, while others may not be able to completely eliminate the danger of the virus entering the body, but they stimulate a defensive response capable of making the body much stronger and therefore to reduce the risks of serious events related to the disease from which one defends.
This is what we aim to achieve, for example, with the vaccine for the prevention of seasonal flu. For some it shields the virus, for others it may not be able to avoid some slight symptoms but it prevents the most dangerous complications, especially for the elderly and the sick. So in terms of public health and protection of the individual it is a valid measure.
The vaccine for the Sars-CoV-2 virus is part of this second “family” of vaccines: it is essential not only for reduce the risk for the individual, as the figures show, but also for reduce the risk of virus circulation among the people.
In short: what emerges from the research available up to now is that who has closed the complete cycle of the two doses of vaccines you are less likely to get infected and is more protected from the possible risk of developing severe forms of the disease than those who are not vaccinated. But there is an important plus. Thanks to vaccination you can also be more protected against infection.
What does it mean? Which reduces the risk of being infected. But beware: this cannot be reset. For this reason, it is essential to always observe the prevention rules, such as wearing the mask in particular in crowded and closed places, keep the distance and wash your hands often.
Who is vaccinated is less infectious?
A research conducted at the University of Oxford brings another important information, confirming the hypothesis already observed that vaccination can in any case reduce the risk of transmission of the infection. The study, in particular, draws a sort of “path” of the risk of infection based on the state of immunization and age and examined positive swabs in the months up to the summer of this year.
The investigation was based on the contacts of people who swab positive for the virus caused by Covid-19, analyzing exclusively the “cascade” induced by the first cases recorded in a specific outbreak, therefore presumably the people from whom the infectious cluster originated.
What emerges from it? In practice, the analysis indicates an important fact: those who are vaccinated are in any case less capable of transmitting the virus to others, even in the presence of an infection linked to the Delta variant. And there is another important piece of information emerging from this scientific investigation. This sort of diminished ability to “relaunch” viral particles outside the organism would be completely independent of the subject’s viral load, as if the vaccine offered further protection from a preventive point of view.
In particular, in fact, in the subjects included in the study it was seen that even in the presence of a similar amount of virus between vaccinated and non-vaccinated swabs studied, the possibility of infecting other people was lower in immunized subjects. It should also be said, for the sake of completeness of information, that these protective mechanisms tend to decrease over time after the second dose of the vaccine. Among the further observations that emerged from the research, a confirmation: it seems that children are somehow more “difficult” to attack by Sars-CoV-2 even in case of infection with the Delta variant, now dominant in our areas.
Read the figures carefully
The Istituto Superiore di Sanità, moreover, invites you to look at the figures to understand how much and how the increase in the number of vaccinated people is modifying both the spread of the virus and the use of hospitalization and the need for intensive care treatments, or the most serious cases of Covid-19 disease.
Most of the new patients were not vaccinated. And those who have completed the vaccination course have a decrease in the risk of Sars-CoV-2 virus infection in fully vaccinated versus unvaccinated people by 77% for diagnosis, 93% for hospitalization, 96% for ICU admissions and deaths. someone, however, points out that in absolute numbers one can also see a certain similarity between what the figures for vaccinated and unvaccinated people report.
Well, the same Istituto Superiore di Sanità reminds us that the numbers must be read “cum granu salis” to avoid the so-called paradox effect. Let’s try to explain it: when in a population there are very many vaccinated subjects, therefore there are high levels of coverage and therefore in many are immunized, given the numerical preponderance of these compared to the unvaccinated, there can be an overlapping number of infections and hospitalizations among the first and second courses. But obviously, it is necessary to think not in absolute terms but in percentage, to avoid gross errors of evaluation.
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