The alternation between good news and bad news marks the fight against Covid, which finally lets us glimpse a light at the end of the tunnel, but, at the same time, is forced to face an increasingly dramatic emergency.
The good bits are about i vaccines. The one announced on Monday by Pfizer could arrive in Italy already in the second half of January. The agreement - reached on October 29 between the German pharmaceutical company and the Italian Ministry of Health - was unveiled today by the newspaper La Repubblica, according to which the distribution of 1,7 million doses has already been planned. Of course, those most at risk would receive them first: health personnel and elderly residents in RSA.
However, nothing is certain yet. The European Agency (EMA) must examine the last phase of the experimentation in order to then approve the drug and it is hoped that it will be able to do so between the end of December and the first half of January. If so, the first Italians will be able to be vaccinated from around January 20.
In any case, the contract for the supply of the vaccine does not only concern our country, but the whole of Europe, and should be signed by the ministers of health within this week. Our country will almost certainly be entitled to 13,5% of the total of the first tranche, that is 3,4 million doses, which however will only be enough for 1,7 million people, since each vaccine requires two administrations.
Other hopes are connected to the AstraZeneca vaccine: if this were also ready by January, Italy could immediately vaccinate another million and a half citizens.
Finally, the US drug authority has approved the use of Eli Lilly anti-Covid antibody treatment (bamlanivimab), which is not a vaccine, but aims to treat minor infections in adults and children. The treatment should be administered in hospitals or other healthcare settings. This is the first monoclonal antibody-based treatment to receive authorisation.
In the meantime, however, one has to deal with one health situation increasingly out of control. In Italy the numbers are back to being so serious that it is making way for the government the hypothesis of a generalized lockdown within the next week, which uniforms the requirements at the national level, putting everyone in the red zone at least until mid-December. It is not excluded that the new squeeze also involves the school of every order and degree, even if on this point the clash within the government is particularly heated.
The Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, would like to avoid such extreme solutions and still hopes to succeed reverse the contagion curve within 7-10 days, that is, before passing the point of no return for hospital facilities. However, if the worsening trend is confirmed in the coming days, the possibility of a total and generalized lockdown will become increasingly concrete.
