ROME – “Thanks to science we managed to overcome a truly exceptional and terrible event. What science has to give us now are indications for the future, to be prepared and ready for a next pandemic which, hopefully, will happen as far in time as possible. The indications for now give us an idea that vaccination will most likely be seasonal, a bit like the flu. To understand when to do it, we have to wait a few weeks and also see the trend of the virus in the next season”. Thus Pier Luigi Lopalco, professor of hygiene at the University of Salento, on the sidelines of the event ‘From the pandemic to the new normal, between Covid and long Covid’, organized by HC Training in Rome at the Adnkronos Information Building.
“What we experienced with the Covid-19 pandemic – he explains – was certainly an exceptional event, but we always talk about a respiratory virus infectious disease pandemic which, like all other respiratory viruses, can be tackled thanks to the progress of science. What we are observing now is the transition to an endemic phase of the virus. Sadly, we have another respiratory virus circulating in our population. This means that we will observe epidemic resurgences, seasonal epidemics, on a more or less regular basis, a bit like the flu”. On the timing, there is still no clarity.
“It is difficult to say today when and with what frequency these surges in viral circulation will occur – reflects the expert – but science gives us the tools to monitor, observe and prevent, thanks to vaccination. Surely there will be a need to protect the most fragile, we have clearly learned that. The coronavirus can cause mild illness in people who are in good health, but it can cause very serious illness in the elderly and people who have other comorbidities. These are the people we absolutely need to protect with vaccination.”
With regard to the role of communication, “there is a risk that up to now there has been too much talk about it and too little talk about it today – remarked Lopalco – A balance should be found, because this is an important disease such as the flu or pneumonia from pneumococcus, which was very little talked about. We must not talk about it very little, we must give the right information and give the citizen the information necessary to be able to protect himself where necessary”.
