After the death in Genoa of Camilla, the 18-year-old vaccinated with AstraZeneca, is the ambiguity of the health authorities to end up under accusation. That “recommended over 60 years” used by AIFA, the Italian Medicines Agency, and taken up by the Ministry of Health in a circular of 8 April are, for many presidents of Italian regions, an equivocal formula that has ended up downloading responsibility on them. The pressures to speed up vaccinations, the general’s demands Francesco Figliuolo to review that age limit and the need to dispose of AstraZeneca stocks would have contributed to an extended use of the vaccine outside the recommendations. All without adequate communication to young people of the risks they were running, with a simple form to sign for the assumption of responsibility.
Vaccini, AstraZeneca is no longer scary: the charge of volunteers under 60 who want the green pass
by Michele Bocci
TOTI: “YOU NEED A CLEAR, DEFINITIVE, IRREVERSIBLE WORD”
AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson’s risk of thrombosis was and remains minimal: one case per 100,000 vaccinated. But when a statistic takes on the face of a dead 18-year-old girl, its meaning changes a lot. And the president of his region, Giovanni Toti, which organized the open day in which the girl ran to get vaccinated on May 25, asks the health authorities to take their responsibilities, clarifying whether AstraZeneca can be used on young people or not. “It’s time for responsibility,” he writes on Facebook. “It is up to doctors and scientists to establish the possible link between the vaccine, other drugs taken and all the circumstances that led to this terrible event.”
That word “recommended” obviously cannot be enough to guide such a complex vaccination campaign. “From the Ministry of Health, the Medicines Agency, the Institute of Health, the Scientific Technical Committee” Toti asks “the responsibility to say a clear, definitive and irreversible word on the use of AstraZeneca”. From north to south, from right to left, the complaint is unambiguous. Vincenzo De Luca speaks on behalf of Campania (which reserves AstraZeneca only for over 60s and calls): “This is the level of disorganization and irresponsibility of Aifa, which should certify the use of vaccines but does not say a word”.
Hope: “The CTS is evaluating the AstraZeneca issue”
by Michele Bocci
The other governors, from Luca Zaia in Veneto to Alberto Cirio in Piedmont, claim their choice not to use that vaccine outside the indications, Toti continues his outburst: “The possibility of using AstraZeneca for everyone on a voluntary basis is not an invention of the regions or some Doctor Strangelove: it is a suggestion that comes from the highest technical-scientific bodies to increase the volume of vaccinations and thus avoid more deaths “.
Camilla, who died at eighteen after the open day vaccine. “She was sick, she was sent home”
by Giuseppe Filetto, Marco Lignana
AstraZeneca, used in Italy since the beginning of February, was first indicated under the age of 65 because there was a lack of experimental data above that age. When, at the end of February, the link with the rare cases of thrombosis was observed, it was decided to reverse the strategy. These problems are in fact concentrated below the age of 50-60. But in order not to cripple the vaccination campaign, in the light of an epidemic that was galloping in Italy in those weeks, it was decided to use the term “recommended” rather than forbidden.
For three days, AIFA, the Ministry of Health and the Scientific Technical Committee have met to find a new rule on the use of both AstraZeneca and the similar vaccine, Johnson & Johnson, which have also been associated with some cases of thrombosis.
Questions and Answers: Rare Thrombosis Cases. There is one report for every 100,000 injections
by Elena Dusi
Most of the Regions awaiting a new scientific opinion have suspended the open days for young people. So did Puglia, Emilia Romagna, Sicily, among others. In Tuscany, a Johnson & Johnson open day is reserved for over 60s. To resume the vaccination campaign, many governors are now requesting an official decision: “We await indications on the use of Astrazeneca, recalling the need for more clarity, more timing from the national scientific community. and more uniqueness “said Cirio while visiting a hub in Piedmont.
In Lazio the councilor for health Alessio D’Amato suspended the open week with AstraZeneca and asked: “We hope the next decisions will be quick, clear and unambiguous by the Technical Scientific Committee and the Ministry regarding the methods of use and administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine for the respective age groups, especially for as regards the recall of the same because obviously it will have an influence on the number of recalls that must be made “.
Already on Wednesday the president of the conference of the regions and of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Massimiliano Fedriga, he had told Forrest, on Radio One: “You can’t think of doing the biggest vaccination campaign in history thinking that it is a league table” between regions. “If we also put this in a meat grinder of daily rankings, we risk doing damage to citizens and not being faster”.
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