Green light from Aifa, the Italian drug agency, to the new anti Covid Novavax vaccine, after the approval of the European agency Ema in recent days
There are 5 vaccines against Covid with the green light today from Aifa to that of Novavax for the over 18s with a primary vaccination cycle of two doses three weeks apart. "The available data, notes Aifa's CTS, on the Nuvaxovid vaccine - explains Aifa - have shown an efficacy of about 90% in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 disease even in the population over the age of 64. The safety profile is is shown to be positive, with mainly local adverse reactions "Meanwhile, to face the advance of Omicron, the ok is also expected to advance the third dose from 5 to 4 months and we begin to discuss the need to administer the booster dose also to the under 18. This is the picture on the eve of tomorrow's control room on the treatment and therapy front.And from the US the announcement that the American Food and Drug Administration has given the green light to Pfizer's Covid pill, which thus becomes the first drug to be taken at home against the virus.
In particular, the new Novavax vaccine, says the president of the Italian drug agency (Aifa),
Giorgio Palù
is "another powerful weapon" to fight Covid,
produced with a different technology, with an advantage "over mRna vaccines" since it does not need the cold chain.
"It will be distributed in one and a half billion doses, with the Covax system, in developing countries, which is important" because "there is a global need for vaccines" and "the virus replicates especially in unprotected countries", Palù explains. On the administration front, Italy is moving towards
the advance of the booster dose from 5 to 4 months.
A hypothesis, already examined at a technical level and for which AIFA's go-ahead is awaited, which - according to what is learned from qualified sources - would soon be approved. The decision would be linked to the opportunity to strengthen the immune response also following the arrival of the Omicron variant. "We know that at five months the effectiveness of the vaccine drops, maybe it will be possible to anticipate it or there will be the possibility of booking it for certain age groups", says Undersecretary of Health, Pierpaolo Sileri. The possibility of extending the third dose in Italy also for under 18s is also strengthened (now the booster at the end of the complete vaccination cycle is approved for ages 18 and over).
"The data - Palù affirms - show us that Omicron spreads more rapidly, we do not know its clinical impact
. However, we know that two doses of the vaccine are not sufficient to induce an antibody titre, three doses yes. So the booster will also be needed in the under 18 age group to make them resistant to infection and especially to disease ". In no country is the third dose given to adolescents but the suspicion is that" it is necessary, because I don't see a big difference between a 16 year old boy and an 18, 19 or 20 year old boy. We are waiting to have data. However, with two doses we protect them from disease, death and in part from contagion ", says Alberto Mantovani, scientific director of the Humanitas Clinical Institute who, on the advance of the third dose 4 months after the second, underlines the fact that" there are no risks and , if it's made as a decision, I think it's wise. It is a matter of playing in advance,to use a football metaphor ".
