Professor Remuzzi, is it really over?
«Covid is no longer a global health emergency. But the virus is still there, it is evolving, it puts the elderly and frail at risk, but the level of concern has significantly decreased. It is part of the history of all pandemics. Some scholars say that a pandemic really ends only when another one begins».
Why this WHO statement today?
“After 800 million confirmed cases, seven million people dead, we are now at the lowest numbers ever since the beginning of 2020. But let’s not forget that in the last week alone there have been another 3,500 victims worldwide. And billions of women and men continue to remain without a vaccine».
Did we really come out better?
“This is a great victory for science. We got a vaccine in 8 months, when none of the experts thought it was possible. The governments of the USA and the European Union have invested enormous sums in grants, trusting in science. We learned a lot, understanding the importance of simple gestures for one’s individual protection. So yes, for me we came out better».
So how do you explain such broad opposition to vaccines?
«In the postwar period, the polio vaccine was received in a triumphal way in the United States. Because everyone saw the paralyzed children on their landing. After the defeat of these infectious diseases, it has become more difficult to reaffirm the importance of vaccines. In these three years, mainly elderly people have died, often from joint causes. Therefore, some could think they were protected, and they cultivated their perplexities».
Why does anti-scientific thought seem to have grown despite the effectiveness of vaccines?
“But it is a very small number of people who have created their own club. Then there are those who, on the other hand, are only afraid, to whom it is necessary to explain, to make them understand that for example in 2021, I am quoting a research by Lancet, the vaccine has saved 20 million lives. Nothing in such a short time has ever done humanity so much good, except the discovery of potable water.’
How do we evaluate the almost 160,000 deaths worldwide from causes related to the vaccine?
“Let’s look at the other numbers. Thirteen billion doses administered, for 5.5 billion vaccinated people. It means that the deaths theoretically connected to the vaccine are 0.0029 percent. There are more chances of losing your life in a car accident, or by leaving the gas on in the kitchen.’
Was having so many TV experts having their say helpful or just confusing?
“There are broadcasts that have confused ideas almost intentionally, pitting people against each other instead of providing information, and they have done some damage. We doctors have played along, that’s true. We found ourselves against characters of all kinds who challenged us with questionable arguments. But the only thing that seemed to matter was the ability to pierce the video».
Do you experts even have something to reproach yourselves with?
“Absolutely. We have not been able to make the public understand that science does not proceed by certainties, but by degrees of probability. The effort to make people understand that it was all very relative was made by very few, perhaps because there were few people willing to accept such a truth».
What did we do wrong?
“Schools have been closed longer than necessary. Downplaying the threat was another collective mistake. There was a study of Lancet of January 24, 2020 which already said it all, thanks to the work of an extraordinary pulmonologist from Beijing. We weren’t careful. And there was also a bias towards Chinese doctors, who actually did a terrific job. It was Chinese policy that didn’t want the world to know.’
And in Italy?
‘We have neglected the NHS. We have not developed and encouraged local medicine. We have been persevering in this error for more than thirty years. It doesn’t seem to me that there are major changes on the horizon. But we now know that the pandemic is fought with a very strong public health system. We should have no more excuses.’
Would updated pandemic plans and red zones also have been needed?
«I don’t want to go into the merits of the judicial issues. I limit myself to saying that we should go to the root of the problem. Establishing now whether or not there was a pandemic plan for the flu doesn’t make much sense, also because Covid is quite another thing. If it had been updated instead of being stuck in 2006, it would not have changed anything, it would not have foreseen the distancing and other measures then implemented. Fighting a pandemic is a matter of continually preparing for the worst. If you don’t have a culture of public health, you can’t improvise».
Could a future variant be more pathogenic or more transmissible?
“We have no idea. Even the concept of Covid as a new virus is wrong. The Russian flu that massacred in 1889 had the same symptoms as him. Other Coronaviruses will arrive, this is the only certainty”.
The first time we spoke was on March 13, 2020. “As we speak I see the ambulances go by and in each of them there is a human being who is not breathing”. What remains of this tragedy?
‘I still have that feeling of helplessness. But we did it anyway, collaborating among experts, each in his own small way, sharing data, exchanging valuable information. We came out together, all of us».