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There vaccination campaign against the Coronavirus continues and soon the vaccines could also arrive in schools. The confirmation comes from Francesco Figliuolo, Commissioner for Emergency, which at the end of a visit to the new Porta di Roma hub addressed the topic. “Do children get vaccinated in schools? We are thinking about it, as it was once done in the ’70s – he said -. The next step will be on the productive classes, the vaccines will arrive and May will be a transitional month. After we think about summer ”.
Of the same idea Patrizio Bianchi, Minister of Education: “First of all we need to complete the vaccination of teachers – confirmed to Sky Tg24 -, we have reached 70%, after which we will get to vaccinate even the little ones. Vaccination in schools is a way to go, but we complete the vaccination of teachers and all staff, then we also tackle the problem of older children and progressively of all those under the age of 16 ”.
Before starting the administration in schools however, the green light for the vaccine for children and adolescents must arrive. The trials are still ongoing, but the results are already encouraging. The immunologist Sergio Abrignani, a member of the Technical Scientific Committee, has in fact hypothesized that “their authorization from the regulatory activities may arrive in time for the reopening of the schools”.
Vaccines for children and adolescents that are being tested are based on the messenger RNA technique. Companies to carry out the studies Pfizer / BioNTech is Modern. Moderna’s studies began in the United States in December, involving 3,000 children aged between 12 and 17. The company recently started another test called KidCove on 6,750 children aged between 6 months and 11 years.
Pfizer / BioNTech has instead announced that it has started phase 3 of the experimentation, in Germany and in the United States, on children with an age between 12 and 15 years, obtaining positive results. Precisely for this reason the company is already preparing the documentation to request authorization from the FDA and EMA. Hopefully, the vaccine for children could be available as early as June. For now, there are no precise dates for vaccination in schools, but the mass campaign, as explained by Figliuolo, should begin after the vaccination of the over 65s. “When we have done them, we will be able to open in a multiple and parallel way to all classes of age, ”he announced.
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