When will the coronavirus pandemic end in Italy and around the world? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Experts are wondering about Covid-19, about living with the virus, and about what future awaits us.
An interview with the ‘Corriere della sera’ of Alberto Mantovani, immunologist, scientific director of the Irccs Humanitas Clinical Institute of Rozzano (Mi). In this phase of the pandemic emergency “we see the light at the end of the tunnel”, but “we will have to live with the pandemic”. And, “to be calm”, we need “to make the poorest countries safe”, says Mantovani.
“I agree 100% with Alberto Mantovani, an extraordinarily good person in his work and a source of pride for Italian research – he comments to Adnkronos Salute Matteo Bassetti, director of the Infectious Diseases Clinic of the San Martino Polyclinic in Genoa – We are emerging from the pandemic, we have reached 80% of Italians vaccinated, and in my opinion we are one of the best placed countries in Europe. We are seeing the end, if this October the epidemiological curve continues like this without an increase in hospitalizations and pressure on hospitals “.
“We must then think of a return to normality and remove the restrictions, including the Green pass which has become too divisive a topic – says Bassetti – People must be vaccinated, not swabs”.
“The goal now – adds the expert – is to vaccinate also in other countries, then offer and give vaccines to the poorest nations, otherwise they will become a breeding ground for variants. The goals must be to vaccinate 70% of the world population by next November 2022 , in such a way that – Bassetti predicts – probably with next spring as a country we will be completely out, and internationally, if we vaccinate even those who do not have access to the dose now, we will get out of the pandemic by 2022 “.
“I esteem Alberto Mantovani as a man of science and as a person. I am obviously satisfied that he reaches the same conclusions as we do. But now let’s avoid excesses of euphoria – says the director of Inmi Spallanzani in Rome to Adnkronos Salute. Francesco Vaia– The enemy is on the ropes and it would be a crime to give him an opportunity for recovery. We still have to convince the uncertain “not yet vaccinated against Covid-19” and everyone must do their part on this. As stated several times, system actions are needed. We, at Spallanzani, continue to treat and experiment, but the real challenge is on the territory, in schools and in home care “.
“Yes, the light at the end of the tunnel can be seen” as the immunologist Mantovani says. The virologist Fabrizio Pregliasco cites Eduardo De Filippo to say that “we still have to grit our teeth, imagining this winter as the last battle with respect to possible upsurge linked to the fact – explains the Milan state professor to Adnkronos Salute – that all the elements of risk are included. : reopening, open school, work in the presence, an ever less implemented distancing. So I think – predicts the expert – that there could be another ‘wave’ “of Covid-19,” but I believe that spring will take us out from the emergency “.
However, the virologist clarifies, “there will not be a declaration of the end of the pandemic, but an increasingly civilized coexistence with the virus, an acceptance of a number of patients that we will be able to govern better and better thanks to the therapies that are emerging and the end of the emergency aspect “.
As Italy “we are doing well, but what frightens me is Eastern Europe and the rest of the world – highlights the virologist – with the possible emergence of new variants and the risk of starting over. We are in good shape, we are well vaccinated, we can do a little more. But – he warns – it is clear that we cannot hope to be perched and remain a happy island. Africa, it must be reiterated, is a reservoir of variations and suffering, of pain and inequality “.
For the clinical immunologist and allergist Mauro Minelli, coordinator for Southern Italy of the Foundation for Personalized Medicine, “presumptuously the West is wrong to think that it is enough to vaccinate its citizens to get out of the crisis, especially when we realize that the variants” of Sars-CoV- 2, “pressing above all in non-vaccine-protected areas of the world, undermine a security that is mistakenly often considered to have already been acquired”.
“I agree with Professor Mantovani – says Minelli – We cannot neglect these aspects”. Countries that have not yet been immunized must be made safe from the point of view of vaccination coverage, he agrees. “Even more so when the already lively protest of vaccination antagonists comes alive in the streets”, this “should make us reflect on the fact that elsewhere, where anti-Covid vaccines do not arrive, there are hospitals where it is not possible to cure not even the most common diseases. Sars-CoV-2, in addition to all its misdeeds – warns the immunologist – must not also point out the disparities; indeed it should make us understand that the world is not all the same and that paradoxically, for some sort of compensatory karma, inequality can have repercussions precisely on the most ‘gifted’ countries which – he concludes – cannot and must not be ensnared by the news of the decline in infections in Western states, if in many countries there are still impressive numbers “.
In this phase of the Covid-19 pandemic “we are heading towards certainly better prospects. But the virus will not disappear, at least not in the medium term. And it is impossible to know what will happen in the long term. The end of the tunnel” also envisaged by the immunologist Mantovani “actually means finding a peaceful coexistence and this can be done by strengthening the population’s immune shield. Through vaccination, then” the virologist explains to Adnkronos Salute Giovanni Maga, director of the Institute of Molecular Genetics of the Cnr of Pavia.
“Italy and the more developed countries are very advanced in immunization and the effects are beginning to be seen – he observes – But it is clear that, if we fail to cover all the countries where vaccination coverage is currently very low, especially the poorest, the virus will continue to circulate. And this will mean that there will always be the possibility of a return. The real end of the nightmare – Maga points out – will be as it was with polio, when we will be able to vaccinate everyone . But surely we are getting closer, at least in our countries, to managing this infection without having to resort to emergency “.