Ricciardi: “Great anti-Covid vaccination campaign for those arriving from Ukraine”

Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said this in recent days: “Europe will soon face the biggest refugee crisis of this century“. Over a million Ukrainians have already left the country during the first week of the war, entering Europe largely via the Polish border. Then Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova, which is not part of the Union. Often the final destination is not the neighboring countries but the rest of the continent, where there are very numerous communities: for example, about 240 thousand Ukrainians live in Italy and according to the Italy-Ukraine European Cultural Association, over 900,000 could arrive in our country within a few weeks. In total it could be a dramatic movement estimated at a few million peoplemaybe four.

According to some experts, a movement that, having secured the people fleeing from a bloody theater of war, risks restart the infections from SARS-CoV-2 in neighboring countries and then landing. A topic that needs to be addressed, because the pandemic did not disappear with the invasion decided by Putin but the two emergencies overlap.

He said it yesterday Fabrizio Pregliascovirologist of the University of Milan, and reiterated Walter Ricciardi to RaiNews24. According to the advisor to the Minister of Health Roberto Speranza and ordinary of hygiene and preventive medicine at Cattolica, one is needed great vaccination campaign for people arriving in Europe and therefore in Italy: they need “large vaccination campaigns on arrival, of course if possible at the transit points. These populations are poorly vaccinated. It happens in Russia, but it happens in general in all Eastern countries, where the percentage of coverage does not exceed 60%, so it is clear that there is a need for caution. ” We need to protect them first of all and “then of course also us to avoid putting the virus back into circulation even more strongly than it is in Italy at the moment, where about 5 million people are still not vaccinated ». And 11 others have yet to booster.

Me too’World Health Organization spoke on the point on the evening of March 2: “The conflict in Ukraine makes the spread of Covid-19 very likely” he said Mike Ryan, director of the WHO health emergencies program during a press conference. “Every time literally millions of people are put on the move, a situation is created that infectious diseases will exploit – he explained – people are crammed together, they are stressed and they don’t eat, they don’t sleep well. The disease is much more likely to spread. ‘

In fact, the picture of the vaccination campaign in Ukraine was very bad. In the country only 35% of people had completed the vaccination course, 15.7 million people against a population of 44 million. Among other things, even in the surrounding countries the situation is not comforting: in Poland the total coverage does not reach 60% of the population, in Romania the picture is, if possible, worse than the Ukrainian one: 28%. In Slovakia only 50% of people are vaccinated with a double dose, in Hungary 64% e in Moldova even just 13%.

The war in Ukraine under the continuous attack of Russia “is a tragedy that adds to the tragedy, because we know that the virus continues to circulate practically unchallenged in those countries”, added Ricciardi. “We have more data on Russia than on Ukraine: in Russia he made a massacre and continues to wreak havoc due to a series of organizational but also religious factors, because the Russian Orthodox Church has campaigned actively against the vaccine. They have had hundreds of thousands of deaths and this will of course continue to be, unfortunately at a time when the war adds to the catastrophe of the pandemic ». The latest official data for Ukraine, as of February 24, spoke of 27,538 new cases. The official number of deaths stands at 112,000 people. Then, of course, the Russian attack blew all activities and priorities changed within days.

The Lazio has already taken measures: “Thehub of Termini station of Rome is now also intended for the vaccination of citizens from Ukraine, with the release of the code for foreigners temporarily present so that they can access all health services “. This is the announcement of the Regional Health Councilor Alessio D’Amato, who explained how the Pisana administration immediately activated the health machine to welcome and secure the first refugees coming to Lazio from Ukraine in recent days. “Shelters for the little ones and medical assistance for all” confirmed Sara Battisti, president of the Regional Commission for Constitutional Affairs. “Only 34.5% of Ukrainians are vaccinated with a double dose – added D’Amato – so we have made available with free access all the procedures, from antigen tests to vaccines on a voluntary basis to the issuance of green certification and in addition we will assign to all the Stp-foreign health card temporarily present, which allows you to use the health services ». Other regions, such as the Veneto, have established specific procedures dedicated to people from Ukraine. On Wednesday 2 March, coordination was held between the Ministry of Health, Civil Protection and the Regions.

In general, anyone who welcomes people from those areas in the coming weeks in addition to taking care of the primary needs of urgency and health should also check the vaccination status and inform refugees and asylum seekers of the opportunities available for immunization.

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Source: Vanity Fair

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