The new crusade is decided: a campaign, political and media, for vaccinate all children. On the one hand, the reasoning is also to force children (from 5 years upwards) to show the green pass to access leisure activities, that is to play, go to the cinema, eat with friends and – who knows – maybe even to go at school. On the other hand, it seems that the Ministry of Health is studying a real media bombing to “convince the Italians of how important it is” to subject under 12 to the anticovid serum. The vaccine authorization for the little ones has not yet arrived, Ema and Aifa are checking Pfizer’s safety data. But the presses for the communication campaign are already in place: it will be broadcast on newspapers, TV, radio and internet sites. In what promises to be a battle with no holds barred.
According to Republic, the technicians of the Department of Health have already studied a strategy. The first step seems to us to be that of terrifying: yesterday Brusaferro in his press conference walked his hand on the under 12s, underlining how we are witnessing an increase in the incidence of cases; while the Sip and Aopi have made it known that in the 0-19 year range there were 791,453 cases, 8,451 hospitalizations, 249 intensive care hospitalizations and 36 deaths. The next step will be to involve specialized hospitals, such as the Bambino Gesù in Rome, the Meyer in Florence and the Gaslini in Genoa. And finally the pediatricians of free choice, those who take care of the children in the area. One motto: vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate.
The message chosen by the ministry should not focus on the need to immunize children to reduce viral circulation and protect grandparents. After all, the director of Spallanzani, Francesco Vaia, said it clearly: you cannot ask for social solidarity from a minor of that age. It would be too much. We need to think about the health of children and understand if the benefits of the serum outweigh the possible risks. According to Vaia and the well-known epidemiologist Ioannidis, to date, there is no reason to immunize those under 12. For the ministry, yes. But it will not be enough to tell the parents that the sting is used to get Italy out of the pandemic. And indeed, he says Republic, “It will be insisted that even children end up in hospital and that there are many fragile people, about one million, under the age of 14”. This was also confirmed by Paolo Biasci, secretary of the Fimp pediatricians union: “We must explain that it is important to vaccinate children because Covid can have complications. About 10% of the population in that age group is fragile ”.