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On the variant of Covid-19 isolated first in England and now also in Italy everyone seems to agree: is worryingbut the efficacy of vaccines should not be compromised. After the alarm triggered by the vertiginous increase of infections in Britain, doctors, scientists and virologists say they are “apprehensive”. The news falls like a rolling stone in the last days of 2020, a year that already has anxiety in the best of cases, and death all over the world.
“If it is true that the variant leads to greater diffusion, the consequence will be initially an increase in infections, after admission to intensive care and finally deaths“, he says in an interview with Corriere della Sera Massimo antonelli, director of resuscitation of the Gemelli Polyclinic and member of the Scientific Technical Committee. “There would be more pressure on hospitals,” anticipates Antonelli, who will be one of the first Italian doctors to receive the vaccine, perhaps on December 27. “Fortunately, judging by the available data, the efficacy of these vaccines should not be compromised, but it will be months before we have a percentage of the population that is immune and therefore we can feel safe.” “Those who have seen Covid-19 up close cannot back down,” he adds. For now “the hospitals are holding out, but we are very concerned for the next few weeks. If the virus transmission rate does not drop, we run the risk of a new crisis.”
At Il Fatto Quotidiano, Federico Giorgi, a geneticist at the University of Bologna and co-author of a specific study on the case, states that “this SarsCov2 mutation (M501Y) has been studied since October. It was already circulating in the United States and Australia, as well as in the United Kingdom” and that the mutation in question is currently the fourth most widespread in the Spike protein. Giorgi has no doubts about the efficacy of vaccines. “The peak protein is made up of 1,250 building blocks, the amino acids,” he explains, “and the M501Y mutation is just one building block. It is generally not enough for a vaccine to be ineffective.”
The Ministry of Health consultancy is also convinced that the variant had already been circulating for months, Walter Ricciardi: “The British already knew since September that this variant was in circulation. They were silent, they did not warn us. Now we need the closure. Or at least very severe measures,” he said in an interview with ‘Il Messaggero’, explaining that “The new variant is no longer lethal, but circulates with a speed even higher than 70-80% ”but“ the protective capacity of the vaccine does not seem to be altered ”. “In these conditions – he continues – it will be difficult to reopen schools on January 7. At Christmas there is a risk of a new rebound. “According to Ricciardi, the measures decided for the holidays are not enough:” The circulation of the virus is intense, the number of infected is high. Containment measures should last longer. At least a month, a month and a half. “
During an interview with the Domani newspaper, the professor Massimo Galli, from the Sacco di Milano states: “In the face of a virus genome mutation, no one can say for sure whether the newly discovered vaccines will be useful or not, but this time I say – with the benefit of the doubt – that I am moderately optimistic” and “There is very likely that incoming prophylaxis will also protect against the English strain.”
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