The Italian discovery leaves no doubts: all the numbers

According to some studies, the latest one published by the Monzino cardiology center in Milan, the flu vaccine would help to stem the consequences of Covid 19

Qui finanza – 29 settembre 2020

We keep hearing that we should all get vaccinated against seasonal flu to reduce the risks associated with Covid. It's really like this? Apparently yes.

The Italian Discovery

According to some studies, the latest one published by Monzino cardiology center in Milan published in Vaccines, the flu vaccine would help to stem the consequences of Covid-19.

The influenza virus and Sars-CoV-2 have similar transmission routes and some symptoms in common, write the authors of the research, but are very different in terms of severity and mortality in case of infection, and in terms of affected age groups. Influenza mainly infects children and adolescents, while Covid-19 mainly affects older people (here find an insight into how to distinguish flu symptoms from those of Covid).

A possible explanation could be that younger people have a more reactive immune system strengthened by exposure to viral agents or antigens contained in many pediatric vaccines, such as anti-measles, chicken pox, scarlet fever, rubella, hepatitis B and Papilloma virus.

Vaccines are therefore able to trigger positive mechanisms of "non-specific" immune response, improving the reaction capacity of the immune system as a whole.

What happens if you vaccinate more

Specifically, the flu shot first and foremost would be essential in reducing the hospital burden in the event of a second wave of Coronavirus. But not only.

During the lockdown period, Milanese research has shown that the Italian regions with a higher flu vaccination coverage rate in the population of over 65s showed a lower number of infections, fewer patients hospitalized with symptoms, as well as fewer patients admitted to the ICU and deaths from Covid-19.

According to some ex post forecasts, only a small increase in vaccination coverage it would have avoided about 2,000 deaths from the Coronavirus.

In particular, a just 1% increase in vaccination coverage in the over 65s, which is equivalent to about 140,000 more doses nationwide, could have avoided 78,560 infections, 2,512 hospitalizations, 353 intensive care admissions and 1,989 deaths from Covid-19. For this "it would be important to encourage as much as possible any activity that could lead to an increase in vaccination coverage especially among the over 65s" explained Dr. Mauro Amato.

Why get vaccinated against seasonal flu

In the study, the vaccination coverage rates in the over 65s were compared, Region by Region, with the number of infections and three other indices of clinical severity of the disease: the number of hospitalizations for Covid-19, the number of hospitalized in intensive care and the number of deaths from the infection.

All analyzes confirmed that i spread rates and severity of the SARS-CoV-2 virus are inversely proportional to the flu vaccination rate: fewer vaccines, more Covid-19.

Even if further ad hoc studies are needed to confirm the hypothesis, the study provides a further scientific basis for the recommendations of all health authorities, starting with the World Health Organization, which urge the population to undergo the flu vaccine, especially this year.

Recall that the 2020 flu vaccine should be also available in pharmacies, even if there are already many problems in this regard.

Meanwhile, on the anti-Coronavirus vaccine front, the European Commission has signed a formal agreement which provides for the distribution of the first doses of vaccine against Covid-19 already by the end of this year.

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