What happened to the new Pandemic plan 2024-2028? Nobody knows or rather there is, he is ready, but he is still in a drawer. The history of the long-awaited document that must secure Italy in the event of a new pandemic is very controversial. The plan was developed by the Prevention directorate of the Ministry of Healthdriven by Francesco Vaia, and presented last January at least in a first draft to the Regions – and then signing the agreement in the State-Regions Conference – but from that moment, with the political controversies that arose, it ended up in limbo. Meanwhile from Covid we moved on toH5N1 avian flu which has started to scare again, with outbreaks on US farms.
The draft plan published in the media sparked criticism from part of the majority in the Government – with questions to the Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci – for the confirmation of the restriction measures in the event of a pandemic, as provided for in each Pandemic Plan. A nightmare for those who had seen the 2020 Prime Ministerial Decrees passed by then Prime Minister Conte as smoke and mirrors to secure Italy struggling with Covid. Precisely at the end of January, it was Schillaci who had to answer a question from the senator of the League Claudio Borghi on the revision of the guidelines in view of the adoption of the Pandemic Plan for the period 2024-2028 and on the discontinuity of the plan compared to the previous one. “I feel I must point out that, to deal with an unknown pathogen with a very high mortality rate, it may be necessary to adopt restrictive measures which, however, will have to be issued – the minister specified – only if strictly indispensable, possibly remaining in force for the time strictly necessary and be proportionate to both the probability and magnitude of the event.” A clarification to calm those in the centre-right majority who cannot digest the restrictive measures and obligations already experienced during Covid.
Officially the draft – as the Undersecretary of Health Marcello Gemmato said, responding at the end of January in the Social Affairs Commission of the Chamber to the question presented by the M5S – is “still in the preliminary investigation phase with the Technical Coordination of the Health CommissionPrevention and Public Health Area, also with a view to adapting the text to regional observations”, and “meetings are being held with the regional representatives and with representatives of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, responsible for financial aspects”.
Experts are worried. The words of Bassetti, Rezza and Andreoni
“We immediately need a new and updated pandemic plan for Italy, so as not to have to chase the next pandemic. Because if the cases of avian flu were to multiply and there was human-to-human contagion, we must have a selection of beds in which to hospitalize the people”, Matteo tells Adnkronos Salute Bassettidirector of infectious diseases at the San Martino polyclinic hospital in Genoa – We need a plan to give to the Regions and we must not make the mistake made in 2020 with an outdated Pandemic Plan. It would be good to take up the pandemic plan drawn up by the director of Prevention Francesco Vaia of the Ministry of Health and send it immediately to the Regions”.
According to the epidemiologist Gianni Rezza, former Director of Prevention of the Ministry of Health, now extraordinary professor of Hygiene at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan. “an updated pandemic plan is needed, but it must be financed well. An estimate of needs must be made compared to a health emergency, for example the purchase of pre-pandemic vaccines. When I was director of Prevention we had already opted for the pre-pandemic H5N1 flu one. It is clear that today the reference is the H5N1 avian flu, but it is enough to isolate the circulating virus and see if it has mutations, which it does not appear to have, and the vaccine we have can be updated. It’s not like making a new vaccine against diseaseThe controversies over obligations, from red zones to mass vaccination, with political fears, which existed when the drafts of the Pandemic Plan came out in November – remember – can be overcome. In fact, it is enough not to foresee measures that will then be taken by the Government. The technicians indicate the measures, but then the Government decides whether to make a Prime Ministerial Decree or another.”
“What all countries are working on is preparation for a next pandemic, regardless of the H5N1 virus that alarms us today. An updated national pandemic plan is therefore essential and is needed immediately, because it is the guide that the country gives itself to best deal with an emergency, the interventions to be done, how to organize the hospital network. Just to give a few examples. But it’s not that Italy can move alone, there are rules to follow in a context – we saw it with Covid – in which no one can do it alone. There is the WHO that provides the guidelines and the countries follow them because a pandemic affects everyone. Politics must stay out of this process and not have a say in it, let the technicians, the international health bodies, who establish the measures to be taken, work“. Massimo says so Andreoniscientific director of Simit, the Italian Society of Infectious Diseases, and full professor at the Tor Vergata University of Rome.
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