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Following the increase in new infections in Italy, virologist Roberto Burioni put the country on alert. On Twitter, the expert writes that “things are starting to get worse. Be careful, keep your distance, wear masks, avoid crowded places indoors, wash your hands. The virus is out there, as infectious and harmful as it was last spring. Everything depends on us “.
“Vaccine like Italy-Germany 2006”
Football comparison of the Covid-19 vaccine: for the virologist Roberto Burioni “it’s like Italy in 2006: they beat Germany in the semifinals with a magnificent game. Now we are going to the final where the strongest team in the world is. Of course, the result is not certain: but if you are in the final it means you can win, whoever lost in the semi-finals is already at home. Instead, we are in the field. We cross our fingers and take all the precautions: we still need a few weeks or months to know if the vaccine works or not. And if it works for the virus, there will be problems ”, writes the professor of Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan on his website ‘Medical Facts’.
The expert intervenes to comment on the new results on the candidate vaccine of the American biotechnology company Moderna, published yesterday. Data on the product developed in conjunction with Niaid (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), led by White House immunologist Anthony, indicate that “the vaccine could also be effective in the elderly.” And it is “good news”, says Burioni. “A problem with many vaccines, including the flu vaccine – recalls the virologist – lies in the fact that people who need protection the most, such as the elderly, respond the worst to vaccination. In the case of the vaccine against Covid-19 this would be a problem, since as you all know the consequences of the infection are much more serious with age ”.
Instead, “just published” the result of the phase I trial of the Moderna-Niaid vaccine, now in phase III “, in which a small number of participants were studied (40) – Burioni specifies – partially aged 50 and 70 years and partly more than 70 years. Well, in all patients, vaccination with mRna-1273 induced the protection of antibodies capable of neutralizing the virus, which are generally related to vaccination. “” The side effects were not very mild, but still tolerable. Beware “, warns the expert:” This study does not tell us that the vaccine will work in the elderly. But it could have told us, with different results, that the vaccine would hardly work. But this is not the case, the conditions for protection even for the elderly are there. Now we have to see if these premises will translate into concrete protection. This is what the ongoing studies are trying to demonstrate and the result is expected day by day “.
