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After Pfizer, here are Moderna and AstraZeneca: Announcements are expected this week on two more vaccines that will aim to stop the coronavirus epidemic and save us from Covid-19. While 400 million euros have already been earmarked for the vaccination campaign in Italy, “secret” warehouses are being sought for storage at very low temperatures and the organizational machinery is being put into operation with Civil Protection and the army in the forefront.
Will three vaccines from Covid-19 save us?
Let’s go in order: yesterday, guest of “Half an hour more”, Professor Guido Silvestri, virologist at Emory University in Atlanta, explained that before Christmas (therefore in a month) “the vaccination of health workers will begin in United States”. “But above all, in conversation with ANSA, Cristina Cassetti, Italian virologist for 17 years at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases NIAID led by Anthony Fauci, deputy director of the division of ‘Microbiology and infectious diseases, announced the arrival of two more preparations: “There is a good chance that by the end of the year we will have not one, but two vaccines against Covid-19, approved with emergency authorization by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). If this is confirmed, it is a matter of an extraordinary, unprecedented result, which will trigger the start of the first immunizations and may begin to show us the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel ”.
We still need a few days of waiting: “We still have to review in detail the data reported by Pfizer on 90% of the overall efficacy of their vaccine, but we are sure. And also because we expect that from the ongoing Phase 3 trial of the Modern vaccine, evidence of equivalent efficacy is emerging. We will have this data in a few days. “Because the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines share the use of the same new platform for immunization, based on the use of messenger RNA.” This is the first time that a vaccine based on this platform has shown evidence of inducing immune responses that protect against disease. This is great news because the advantage of this method is its speed of execution. ”
Cassetti also points out that in January or February there could be other vaccines: “in process, with advanced trials underway, in fact there are those from Janssen (a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary), and Astrazeneca.” Other candidates are the Novavax and Sanofi-Pasteur vaccines that are being developed, albeit more slowly.
Towards a new Dpcm for December 3 with the Christmas rules
Vaccination as of December 15 in the US.
And in fact yesterday the virologist Roberto Burioni, guest Di Fabio Fazio in Che tempo Che Fa in Rai3, broke the news: “ This is the greatest feat that science and man have done in its history, if it is crowned with success. I know this from American colleagues who have been planning medical vaccines since December 15. If you had asked me a year ago if it was possible to do what was done in 11 months, I would have never told you. In the past, it took more than 12 years. ” And again: “You have to be cautious, be sure of safety, but it is a huge sigh of relief, a light at the end of the tunnel that until yesterday was black.”
Burioni also responded to objections about the duration: “We do not know how long it lasts, but I consider it a secondary problem. Even if it lasts 1 year or 2 years, we will make a withdrawal. ” And for those on conservation: “Storing something at -70 degrees is not like going to Mars, it is something you can do if you organize. The company has already made available containers that keep 1,000 doses of the vaccine at -80 degrees for 15 days. It would be a real shame if one could not get vaccinated for lack of organization. Take the example of Germany, which has already organized several vaccine storage centers and 2 applications. We do not yet know how effective this vaccine is in the elderly. The first to be vaccinated will be health workers because in the first line, then we will have to understand if the vaccine protects the elderly, otherwise it will be necessary to vaccinate everyone else so that the virus does not circulate. ” Regarding the possibility of having more vaccines available. “It would be great, we need the first weapon right away, then we’ll pick the best one, polio-wise.” Silvio Garattini, president of the Institute “Mario Negri” in Milan, in Agorà thinks today to quench the enthusiasm: “We must not give the impression that we can celebrate: we need time, for a long time the only effective countermeasures will remain the mask, the ban collecting, hand hygiene ”.
