Although the number of Covid19 cases seems to be decreasing everywhere, the number of deaths related to Sars-CoV2 infection in Italy remains unacceptably high. According to the Fiaso report, 30% of people in intensive care are not vaccinated and only 30% of the audience has received the fourth dose.
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The Covid19 vaccines have been the turning point in the fight against Coronavirus, their introduction in 2021 marked a collapse of lethality for Covid19 in all countries that have vaccinated extensively. We know that the antibodies induced by the Covid19 vaccine decrease over time and decrease faster in the older population which is also intrinsically more fragile and at risk of serious consequences in the event of Covid19. Furthermore, Sars-CoV2 has accumulated many mutations that have made it a fundamentally different virus than the one that emerged in Wuhan in late 2019.
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Are there still unvaccinated subjects?
Unfortunately, there are still unvaccinated subjects in the various age groups: for example, around half a million people aged between 60 and 69 have never received a dose of the Covid19 vaccine. After the age of 60, the risk of dying is 60 times higher than in a person aged 18-29.
Similar situation in the group of citizens ranging from 70 to 90 years old where we find another half a million completely unvaccinated subjects. If these million Italians carried out the complete vaccination cycle we would probably reduce access to intensive care by 30% and consequently deaths from Covid19.
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But the other 70%?
Those who die of Covid19 today are very frail and elderly and often have not received the fourth dose, in fact only 30% of the audience (which includes over 60, frail and pregnant women) has joined the vaccination campaign. The fourth dose or second booster dose is essential to keep our immune system trained and ready to face the Covid19. A recent analysis published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows the potency of updated bivalent vaccines in countering the most contagious and immune evasive Omicron variants.
And the children?
About 60% of children aged 5 to 11 have never received any dose of the Covid19 vaccine, this figure is not justified by any parental fears as a meta-analysis was recently published on Jama where the data of 11 million pediatric vaccinations are reported and it is confirmed that mRNA vaccines are safe and extremely effective even for children. Covid19 affects children with direct and indirect damage, therefore vaccination of pediatric groups also becomes essential.
Take Home Message:
- Covid19 vaccines have saved millions of lives and remain essential.
- In Italy, only 30% of the audience received the fourth dose.
- The fourth bivalent dose is also effective against subvariants of Omicron.
- 30% of ICU accesses never received any vaccine dose.
- Only 40% of children (5-11 years) received the Covid vaccine despite being safe and effective.
References:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/covid-data/investigations-discovery/hospitalization-death-by-age.html#:~:text=Sample%20interpretation%3A%20Compared%20with%20ages,to%2029%20years%20age%20group.)
https://www.governo.it/it/cscovid19/report-vaccini/
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2214916
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2800743
Aureliano Stingi, doctor in molecular biology works in the field of precision oncology. He collaborates with the World Health Organization in the battle against Covid19-themed fake news
Instagram: Aureliano _Turn it off Twitter: @AurelianoStingi