Action taken in light of vaccine studies. A decision that could favor the issuance of the Green pass to those who have overcome the disease and find it difficult to obtain it
ROME. People cured of Covid-19 will be able to take a single dose of vaccine, instead of 2, within 12 months of the disease. The provision extending the time beyond the 6 months scheduled today was signed as announced by the Undersecretary of Health Andrea Costa.
“It is possible to consider the administration of a single dose of anti-SARSCoV-2 / COVID-19 vaccine in subjects with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection (course symptomatically or asymptomatically), provided that the vaccination is preferably performed within 6 months from the same and in any case no later than 12 months from the recovery ». This is what is indicated in the circular ‘Update of indications on the vaccination of subjects who have had a SARS-CoV-2 infection’ of the Ministry of Health, signed by the director general of Prevention Gianni Rezza.
The indications of the Ministry of Health up to now have been the following: the Green Certification for those who have had Covid is valid within 6 months from the first positive swab; or they can get it if they have had a single dose of vaccine between 3 and 6 months after infection. If, on the other hand, they are vaccinated after 6 months, 2 doses are needed.
Now, however, explains Costa, “on the basis of new scientific evidence” relating to the duration of immunity given by the infection, “a provision has been adopted that extends the period of time within which those who are vaccinated can be extended from 6 to 12 months. do just one dose. A choice that, according to Carlo Signorelli, full professor of Hygiene at the San Raffaele University in Milan, «from a scientific point of view makes sense».
In the meantime, however, the announced obligation of a Green pass to carry out different types of activities that should be introduced in Italy, has led to a growing doubt in the population. “We have had a strong increase in reports on this issue,” explains Anna Lisa Mandorino, general secretary of Cittadinanzattiva. “Many believe that the recovered cannot have the Green Certification and many others are not receiving it due to communication problems between the computer system of the general practitioner and the regional one and between the regional and national system”.
One of the problems, clarifies Undersecretary Costa, is that “many citizens who have contracted Covid-19 and who received a dose of vaccine, then had difficulty in obtaining the Green pass, because in some regions the dose was administered perhaps after six months foreseen. Thus, the system platform did not recognize the single dose as a complete cycle but automatically classified that vaccination as incomplete. This, said Costa, “is a problem that already affects a few thousand citizens and now we will solve it”.
In reality, Signorelli points out, “there are misunderstandings in the issue of the Green Certificate also for those who have had vaccinations regularly, both among the recovered and among those who have not had Covid. This problem exists in various regions from North to South and it will need to be remedied, because if the Green pass becomes mandatory for some activities, these people will be unfairly barred from entering different contexts “. It is a computer problem, he continues, »but there could also be data entry errors. If you do not have to do the second dose – explains Signorelli – it must be communicated to whoever vaccinates and must be inserted into the system at the time of administration “.
And to complicate matters is added the fact that “some regions have provided for provisions that go beyond the ministerial ones and provide for a double dose for the recovered even if carried out between 3 and 6 months. This – concludes Signorelli – has increased the confusion «.
But from the front of the hospitals comes a strong concern: the doctors were among the first to be subjected to the vaccine and their coverage will expire as soon as possible, therefore they will be the most exposed to the risk of contagion. »In fact we are faced with a bureaucratic problem and a strictly health issue – explains professor Antonio Cascio, director of the infectious diseases unit of the Palermo Polyclinic -. Because the green pass has a specific expiry date and therefore if it expires the freedom of movement of people is somehow impeded. But also – concludes Cascio – the problem arises of the possibility that health workers, certainly much more exposed to contagion risks, can somehow become infected when vaccination coverage is weaker “. (HANDLE).