The study, sponsored by AIFA, on over 3200 elderly people in 77 RSAs of 10 Regions demonstrates the efficacy and safety of vaccines, even in the most fragile, on which no data were available so far. Just 3% of Covid cases among vaccinated, while the elderly and women have the greatest immune response with a high production of antibodies. The research wipes out the fear of adverse events: no serious side effects have been documented and the long-term ones, fatigue and loss of appetite, have affected no more than 1.6% of the elderly.
Vaccines are the best shield for defending the health of all the elderly, also and above all of the most fragile in RSA, on which so far no data on clinical efficacy were available. The preliminary results of the GeroCovid Vax study in collaboration between ISS and SIGG, the first to have collected data on elderly people in RSAs, show that even in this particularly fragile population the vaccine is effective, with an incidence of new cases among those vaccinated just barely 3% and a high antibody response especially in the elderly and women, and free from serious side effects as well as significant long-term complications.
In geriatrics
“The elderly in the RSAs paid the highest price during the first pandemic waves and the first, essential message is that the Covid vaccine works and is very safe even in the most frail elderly. There are therefore no reasons to fear the recall with the third dose or the risk of new outbreaks ”explains Francesco Landi, president of SIGG.
Lo studio GeroCovid Vax has in fact verified the efficacy and adverse events of the vaccine in a large population of elderly people outside clinical trials “The average age of the 3262 subjects involved in 77 RSAs throughout Italy was 83 years, on average each had at least 5 different diseases including, in about two out of three cases, cognitive disorders – he explains Graziano Onder, Scientific Director of the study and Director of the Cardiovascular, Endocrinometabolic and Aging Diseases Department of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità – One in three was confined to bed or in a wheelchair, therefore it was a very fragile sample. After each of the two doses of mRNA vaccine, in 93% of Pfizer cases, each elderly person was re-evaluated for adverse events and clinical conditions after 7 days and then after 2 and 6 months. The available data already analyzed, 2 months after the double dose of anti-Covid, have shown that vaccination is safe and effective in these elderly too. Adverse events were mild, for example pain or redness at the injection site, after both doses and affected 3 to 10% of the elderly, ”adds Onder.
“After 2 months only 1.6% were still tired and 1% a loss of appetite. Against this, we observed an incidence of just 3% of new infections in vaccinated people and an excellent antibody response, especially in women and the elderly – observes Alba Malara, coordinator for SIGG of the GeroCovid Vax study – All this confirms that today the RSA after the execution of vaccinations for guests and operators are actually the safest place where an elderly person can stay, safely visited by family members and with the continuous assistance of qualified pardons – explains Malara – Obviously the current limits of knowledge on the duration of vaccination protection and the risks deriving from the circulation of variants of SARS-CoV-2, require the continuation of prevention and control measures to ensure the safety of resident guests “.