Faced with the virus that raises its head pushed by the more contagious sub-variant Omicron 2, the dossier of the fourth dose is reopened. For now, the new booster has been offered for about a month to an audience of about 800 thousand frail patients, but the Ministry of Health and Aifa, the Italian Medicines Agency, have begun to examine the possibility of extending it to “the elderly” and that is to people of more advanced age, as some countries such as Israel, France and England are already doing, which are offering it to over 75 or over 80. The crux, however, is the type of vaccine, because for some technicians it would be better to wait for a new vaccine
The ministry and Aifa open the dossier
As said in recent days, the technicians of the Ministry of Health and Aifa, the Italian Medicines Agency, are reopening the fourth dose dossier so far reserved for the most fragile and immunocompromised patients. “We will check in the coming days whether to extend it to older population groups. Scientific evidence – confirmed the Minister of Health Roberto Speranza – now it does not tell us the fourth dose for everyone, it tells us that we need to investigate and evaluate whether protection is needed for higher age groups “. The fourth dose, or new booster, could in fact be offered to over 75-80 in the coming weeks, as some countries are already doing. But the evaluation is still open, also because some of the technicians suggest waiting for a new vaccine specifically studied on Omicron, in order to also act as a shield for contagion as well as for severe disease. “Unfortunately the vaccine, although it protects against serious complications of the disease, in most people has a rather limited duration in terms of protection against infections,” he explained. Andrea Crisantidirector of the Molecular Microbiology Department of the University of Padua at 24 Mattino on Radio 24.
Which vaccine to use
In the arguments that are also being made toMom, the EU drug agency, as well as in Italy there is the issue of which vaccine to use. The current one was in fact made on the original Wuhan virus strain and even with the Omicron variant it shows to be effective in defending from severe forms, even if less from contagion. Considerations of the EMA, based on studies done in Israel, say among other things that the fourth dose made very close to the third in the general population does not have the effect that was thought to have. However, the speech is different for the most fragile and therefore also the elderly who may need a call even before next autumn. For Crisanti himself, it is necessary to change the paradigm: “More than blocking transmission, we need to protect the frail, because all these deaths we see every day, unfortunately, are not people who have not had the vaccine“. “I think I’ll do the fourth dose too – explains the microbiologist – because I’m also starting to be a bit old”
Towards a “universal” vaccine
Just in the past few days Modern applied to the US FDA for a second booster dose of its anticovid vaccine. A request that concerns the inoculation of all adults over 18 years of age. The application presented by Moderna follows the analogous requests of Pfizer e BioNtech, which, however, were limited only to subjects over sixty-five. Moderna submitted the request based on studies conducted by Israel and the United States on the Omicron sub-variant. Meanwhile, the step-by-step process that will lead to the development of a universal vaccine against coronaviruses has already begun: the director of the National Institute for Infectious Diseases (Niaid) of the United States, the immunologist, is also personally dedicated to it. Anthony Fauci, which is studying new technologies based on nanoparticles and nasal sprays. “We will get there step by step – explained the American immunologist – we will not have a universal vaccine at the first shot, it would be too ambitious, but what we can do is start from a pan-SarsCoV2 vaccine that protects against all Alpha, Beta variants, Gamma, Delta and Omicron. The next step will be a pan-Sarbecovirus vaccine, which protects not only from SarsCov2, but also from SarsCoV1 and other viruses that can evolve into human infections ».