“Only 1 in 5, less than 20%, got the fourth dose. And this is a problem especially for the elderly and frail because vaccination is a life-saver for them. Already now we have about 100 deaths a day, we have never dropped below 60-70. We risk having a really tough wave of mortality among the frail in the autumn, with numbers much higher than the current ones ”. To warn about Omicron 5 and the new wave of Covid is Walter Ricciardi, consultant to the Minister of Health and full professor of Hygiene at the Catholic University.
The green light for vaccination with the fourth dose for the over 60s and frail subjects of all ages should arrive on Monday 11 July, as suggested by the European Medicines Agency Ema which has re-emphasized a recommendation it had launched with the ‘Ecdc (European Center for the Prevention and Control of Diseases), and that is that in a situation of high viral circulation, such as the one underway today, a fourth dose should be considered to all over 60 and the frail of every age.
Certainly it is not easy to organize the relaunch of the vaccination campaign in the middle of summer, without even General Figliuolo anymore to coordinate the enormous organizational machine.
Fears of a flop
The second booster dose of the anti-Covid vaccine “I think it should be given to people over 60, but I don’t think we can run for cover today. There is a risk of carrying out an incomplete vaccination campaign. There is again the risk of having a low participation, like the one we have already had with regard to the fourth dose to the over 80s and the frail. I believe that, rather than “moving now” with a buffer solution, the time has come to organize the September-October vaccination campaign in a very rigorous manner “. This was highlighted by Matteo Bassetti, Director of Infectious Diseases of the San Martino Polyclinic in Genoa.
For Bassetti it is right that these categories make the call, but moving now there is a ‘flop’ risk. The expert’s gaze is projected towards what will happen after the summer. We need to start now by solving the practical questions in view of an autumn campaign: “Should vaccination be done in vaccination hubs? Do the doctors at home, the pharmacies, who? How is it organized? Who manages the central procurement of vaccines? Should the Regions do them? Shall we make appointments already? “. These are the issues to be addressed in time, according to Bassetti.