Giovanni Rezza, Director General of Prevention of the Ministry of Health

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January 29, 2021 On the age limit of the Astrazeneca vaccine "we see what AIFA will decide. From what I understand

the limit should be 65 years

. This, obviously, if confirmed, would target these vaccines to a population that is at relatively lower risk of serious illness ", declared the Director General of Prevention of the Ministry of Health, Gianni Rezza, during the press conference on the analysis of the regional Covid-19 monitoring.

This new vaccine, in any case, "provides a tool for a wide audience. We hope that a fourth will arrive, which will probably always be a viral vector. We hope that it will also be disposable, which would be even better," he added. . 



The

smaller amount of vaccines available than was expected

, "implies that we have to make a very swift effort - these days we are doing it - to identify priority groups to vaccinate and also set organizational priorities. At this stage we are coming together. every day: the number of different categories to which the vaccine should be allocated was assessed. The fact that the AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved at European level gives us hope that in the next few days there will be it available in Italy. And this will offer new opportunities " .



The

AstraZeneca vaccine thus joins those of Pfizer and Moderna

;

Johnson & Johnson is expected shortly.

Beyond what the decisions will be, according to experts, having another vaccine is important to achieve the so-called 'population effectiveness'.

Another firm point is that, for all age groups but especially for the elderly, it is important to continue to protect yourself with masks and spacing. 



"We do not have much information on the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the over 55 age group, but 13% of the patients included in this analysis were elderly," said

pharmacologist Bruno Sepodes, of the University of Lisbon

, in the press conference of the 'Ema.

"We expect some kind of efficacy for this sub-group as well, although the exact level of efficacy cannot be estimated now," and based on the evidence, he said again, "we have no reason to believe that the AstraZeneca vaccine will not be useful "for the over 55.



Rezza: data improvement, consequence of last month

The data improvement" even if slight is the consequence of the measures of the last month, so we must continue to maintain prudent behavior ": says the director of prevention Ministry of Health Gianni Rezza in the video that accompanies the analysis of the weekly monitoring on the progress of the epidemic.

"This week the number of cases tends to decrease slightly, the incidence, which is still high, is fixed at 289 per 100 thousand inhabitants, with a slight decrease also in Rt 0.84 at the national level. a slight decrease to 28%, just below the critical threshold ", explained Rezza.



Reduction in doses of the anti-Covid vaccine

In the face of the announced reduction in vaccine doses by companies "we must make a swift effort to identify the priority groups and establish the organizational methods. There are several scenarios that have been taken into consideration and we have a document that envisages the various possibilities with the numerous categories themselves "concluded Rezza.