“Evaluating the vaccine obligation for those who perform public functions” – breaking latest news

Giorgio Pal, president of the Italian Medicines Agency and member of the Technical Scientific Committee (Cts), how could the pandemic evolve in Italy?

Let’s start with today’s numbers: 67 percent of the population over 12 vaccinated with two doses, there are 466 patients in intensive care and just over 3,700 in the ordinary wards. The daily deaths are in the order of a few dozen. Of course we will have to assess what impact the reopening of schools and the full resumption of activities will have on this scenario, but the wide vaccination coverage offers guarantees and allows us to be optimistic.

What is the priority today?


Convince the “hesitant” to get vaccinated, on the basis of objective scientific data. We know that 4-5 percent of the population no vax and any attempt at persuasion is useless. Another 15-20 percent, between 30 and 60 years old, made up of fearful or doubtful people: we have to work on these. Asking them to trust counterproductive science, numbers are needed: 95 percent of ICU patients not vaccinated; the vaccines we have today protect 97 percent from death and 95 percent from serious disease, even against the Delta variant. We have vaccines built on an isolated viral sequence in January 2020 which, despite mutations in the virus, are still extremely effective. The Beta variant (isolated in South Africa, ed) the most “bad” and immune-evasive, but fortunately it did not spread massively. The Delta in Italy is almost 100 per cent and, interestingly, it has not been supplanted by other variants in high prevalence countries.

How is it possible to explain the hesitation to get vaccinated in the face of a pandemic that has killed nearly four and a half million people?

The impact of infectious diseases on the average human life expectancy was lost. We forget that vaccines have increased it by almost twenty years since the beginning of the 20th century and young parents do not have the image of what polio, diphtheria and measles could cause in affected subjects. At the beginning of the last century, infant mortality was 20 per cent, today thanks to vaccines and 0.2 per cent.

Is there a risk that a more lethal strain will develop?

very unlikely, there is no evidence or example that vaccines can select viruses with higher pathogenicity. Delta is more contagious than Alpha (about twice as much), but it doesn’t seem to be “bad” anymore. The interest of the virus spread as much as possible without killing the host. The lethality of Covid in fact relatively low, around 0.2 percent in studies documenting the actual circulation of the virus. In a globalized world inhabited by nearly 8 billion people, more than herd immunity we should be concerned about the protection from disease, which current vaccines effectively guarantee.

Is it important that those over 12 also protect themselves?

Here, too, just look at the numbers. The only adverse effect of mRna vaccines in minors is myocarditis or pericarditis, mild events that resolve within 4-5 days. They affect one male out of 18,000 vaccinated and one female out of 100,000. In Germany, the Permanent Commission on Vaccines (Stiko), after an initial recommendation that concerned only frail adolescents, declared a few days ago that the vaccine can be administered to all over 12 because the benefits far outweigh the risks. As we know, it’s rare (but not impossible) for kids to get Covid, but it can undoubtedly be a vehicle for contagion.

What can be done to ensure that teaching remains in the presence?

Vaccinate the entire candidate population aged 12 and over, maintaining individual protection measures (masks, spacing, hand hygiene), adapting the air conditioning systems so that there is an effective exchange, increasing the means of transport and their sanitization, operating student shifts so that the classrooms are not too crowded. The use of the green pass is especially important.

How to convince doubting teachers to get vaccinated?

I believe that it is necessary to ask ourselves whether it is advisable to introduce the vaccination obligation for those who hold a public function: health workers, teachers, law enforcement agencies and other categories. We recall that the safeguarding of the public good is also protected by article 2 of the Constitution, according to which individual law cannot harm that of the community. And the vaccines we have today, in addition to protecting the individual, are highly effective in preventing infections: between 70 and 85 percent. For that 25-30 percent who escape, even vaccinated people must continue to wear the mask in crowded and closed environments.