AstraZeneca vaccine in Italy, while the CTS also reassures about the second dose after the rare cases of thrombosis, arrive news on the hypothesis of administration also to under 60s, with a lowering of the age range recommended by Aifa for coronavirus vaccination. This was explained by General Francesco Paolo Figliuolo, extraordinary commissioner for the Covid emergency, who underlined how it is considering extending the drug to the “under 60 age group”: “AstraZeneca – he said – is a vaccine recommended for certain classes, the EMA says it is good for everyone. It is likely that in what is called the rolling review, that is, the review due to experience during mass vaccinations, AstraZeneca could be recommended over a class below 60 “. “We are thinking about this, I have had discussions with Aifa, Cts, the Higher Council of Health and the Higher Institute of Health, also on the basis of the most advanced studies in Great Britain where 21 million vaccines have been used so far”, he explained. again son.
Meanwhile they arrive new reassurances from CTS members about the second dose. For Franco Locatelli, president of the Higher Council of Health and coordinator of the technical-scientific committee, in fact, “as per the pronouncement of the CTS as well as the reassuring data from the United Kingdom, there is no element to advise against the second dose. On the duration of immunization of the vaccine in general after the second dose – he added speaking with Skytg24 – it is still difficult to make an estimate, but it is reasonable to hypothesize recalls even not earlier than a year “.
Even the president of the ISS and spokesman for the CTS Silvio Brusaferro, in an interview with the press, dispels the perplexities of those who have to make the call with AstraZeneca: “The recommendations provided by Ema, Aifa and the Ministry of Health – he says – are to continue with the same vaccine and come from the continuous analysis of an incredible amount of data on possible specific risks. We must trust “. While for those who completed the vaccination cycle already in February, before revaccinating, “it still takes time to evaluate the duration of the immune response generated by the vaccines. As we go along, the times get longer. Before the ECDC indicated in 6 months the minimum duration of immunization, but new studies already raise the bar to 8 months and it is likely that it will eventually be set even higher. As soon as we have acquired more stable data, we will know when to do the boosters. “