The second administration of the vaccine, for those who did AstraZeneca, it’s getting surreal. First the last-minute cancellations in Lombardy, explained by Letizia Moratti with the need for “clarity and protection of citizens”, then the tranchant stance of Campania of Vincenzo De Luca.
A communication mess that is not good for anyone and that once again raises the issue of overcoming the reform of Title V of the Constitution, which has entrusted the regions with health care: since the Covid-19 emergency broke out, the need for a single direction at the state level has appeared imperative, also to avoid unacceptable inequalities in health treatment for citizens of one or another region. If in Germany “heterologous” vaccination has been doing for some time, that is, mixing the first dose of one type with the second of another, our scientists are doubtful about the adoption of this method, which is also invoked by the Minister Hope.
The President of the Gimbe Foundation, Nino Cartabellotta, recalls: “In the initial phase, AstraZeneca was indicated for people under 55, then we moved on to under 65, then the problem of adverse effects took over, especially in younger people, so the famous risk-benefit profile changes according to age groups, but also depending on the circulation of the virus. Thrombosis is more frequent in the younger groups and much rarer above 70 yearsi, when there is a lower circulation of the virus the possibility of ending up in intensive care and dying decreases for the whole population, there are age groups where the risk-benefit may not be acceptable especially if there are other vaccines a layout”.
Speaking at Radio Cusano Campus, Cartabellotta added: “The biggest perplexities are due to the famous mix of vaccines. To date, the vaccine leaflets approved so far have not been changed so far. We do not have any controlled and randomized studies, so to date the only scientific evidence we have, in addition to both immunological and biological rationale, is 4 small studiosi who overall enrolled a thousand patients who demonstrate that the reaction after the vaccine mix is good and there are no relevant adverse effects. The CTS says: ‘Si deem it advisable to use an MRNA vaccine for people under 60 ‘. A possibilist opinion has become a peremptory recommendation and some regions have expressed doubts about this. As long as Aifa does not modify the leaflets, the vaccine mix is in effect off label (outside the conditions authorized by the established bodies) “.
“In my vision today we had 3 chances on the second dose for those who took the first dose with Astrazeneca: you do not take the second dose and you stay 70% covered, or you take the second dose with the Astrazeneca vaccine, or you take the second dose with the vaccine mrna, with an informed consent on what the risks and benefits are. I wonder how the vigilance vaccine system will work in this creative vaccination. Some regions have said they will not mix vaccines, because they want greater safety. The scientific evidence today on this topic is still preliminary and maintains a certain margin of uncertainty ”.