“That patient had fear in his eyes. When he learned he was going to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine he confessed his concerns, he was really scared. And despite the extensive reassurances he received in a long interview, he finally said no.” Not even a well-known face such as the virologist Fabrizio Pregliasco, who told Adnkronos Salute about his “pain” for that refusal he will never forget, failed to convince him. “It is dramatic to see the harm that cacophonous and uncoordinated communication can cause”, underlines the doctor after a morning as a vaccinator in the Milanese hub of Novegro, managed by the San Donato Group which is headed by Irccs Galeazzi, of which Pregliasco is director sanitary.
The protagonist of the episode is “a 62-year-old man – explains the professor of the State University of Milan – who was very worried, really scared, when he was told that he was destined for AstraZeneca according to the indications of the health authorities . He said he had had situations in the family that had distressed him, he talked about severe side effects and confessed that he was expecting Pfizer’s vaccine. I saw dramatically as a person who had already sat in a chair, ready to be vaccinated. , despite a long disquisition he preferred to go away. He stayed for a while in the waiting room, because obviously we told him to think about it, it’s not like we’re here to sell pots “, explains the virologist. “But in the end he decided to give up his vaccine,” he preferred to be queued.
“It does not surprise me, but it is still a great pain – repeats Pregliasco – that in the field of vaccines, against Covid-19 but not only, because we had already seen it with those of childhood or others, we focus on the very rare adverse events more than on the countless benefits, and that such an insistent communication can build a substantially wrong conviction “. So granite that not even a ‘TV virologist’ can unhinge. “Not only me – says the doctor – All the people who were with me, the other operators and the nursing coordinator of the center, were dejected. We saw with immense sadness the fear in this person’s eyes”.
In the Novegro hub, a vaccination capacity that reaches 5 thousand administrations per day, Pregliasco was recognized by many patients and spoke with some of them about the importance of protecting themselves from the pandemic coronavirus and the role of immunizations in general. “Out of 15 vaccinations I did, about 5 were with AstraZeneca – estimates the expert – All the others accepted the injection by raising their arm with great serenity. All except that gentleman who I was unable to convince”.