Italy spends 100 million euros on the only remedy that seems capable of fighting the coronavirus

The first drug that appears to be able to defeat the coronavirus, monoclonal antibodies, began testing in Roman hospitals on Friday and they hope it will save 70% of patients worse. Italy paid 100 million euros to the United States for 150 thousand doses intended for patients at very high risk.

The infected type is over 65 years old and developed contagion of the virus a few days before the start of treatment which consists of single injectable dose.

Monoclonal antibodies were the weapon used by the doctors who saved then President Donald Trump in Washington when he was infected in 2020. “It was terrible, I felt reborn when they took me back. injected the drug, ”Trump said.

Experimentation is underway in many laboratories, but the most advanced are North American researchers. The results they encourage and the doses are already on sale at a very high price.

The new protocol was approved by an emergency decree from the Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza. The operation is led by the Spallanzani Institute in Rome, the best specialist in infectious diseases. In Rome, the university polyclinics Umberto I and Tor Vergata also participate, with the San Andrea hospital.

In addition, doses will be sent to a dozen hospitals in the Lazio region and to centers in the Lombardy, Campania and Marche regions.

In the lists of patients to whom the treatment is given, there is diabetic, obese, ill in progress dialysis, teens with asthma and other respiratory diseases, and patients heart attacks.

“The hope is that the antibodies are really effective, who cure 3 out of 4 patients”Said specialist Luigi Bartoletti.

He specified that the experiment will be gradually extended to the rest of Italy, for which it is necessary to coordinate the medical centers and import the doses. “It will take a few weeks to test the new system and come up with a new plan against Covid for patients,” Bartoletti said.

The prospect of the new drug dealing a serious blow to the pandemic renewed the spirits of Italians, who spent four days of confusion and amazement at the decision of a dozen European countries, including Italy, to suspend the application of the Anglo-Swedish vaccine AstraZeneca due to reports of serious reactions, even fatal.

They resume vaccination

Alarms and complaints were rejected Due to scientific controls and in Italy, it was decided to restart on Friday with the vaccination plans in which more than six million people have been vaccinated.

“Let’s not waste any more time,” repeat scientists and operators of mass vaccination plans, who hope to vaccinate 70% of the 60 million Italians in the fourth quarter of the year.

The interruption of vaccinations, when it reached 200,000 per day at the start of the week, produced a major disaster inevitable in all reserve systems and in large immunization centers which are beginning to operate in a well-coordinated manner with a large deployment of resources.

The number of people vaccinated in April is expected to double to 400,000 people per day and reach half a million in May. Key centers are already functioning in hospitals, train stations, concert halls and large spaces such as areas of major airports, with the intervention of thousands of inoculators, doctors and an administrative apparatus which hopes to soon provide a sort of health passport for the vaccinated. .

But the key problem so far has been that dreams and big plans have to work with the concrete arrival of million doses of vaccines. In Europe, there are only three authorized laboratories: Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca. Others will be added soon, like Johnson & Johnson, which will be the only single dose vaccine. All others require two applications. They all promise to send the missing vaccines soon.

Meanwhile, the pandemic continues to progress into a third wave that has forced the government to lock most Italians into rigid quarantine due to virus variants of the original Covid-19 that are more contagious and deadly. Most of the twenty regions have become “Red zones” with tough measures to alleviate contagions, which force people to stay at home except when going to work or going out for essential purchases.

This Friday 25,735 infections were recorded, continuously increasing, with 386 deaths in 24 hours which brought the total to 104,241 deaths since the start of the pandemic thirteen months ago.

The biggest concern is that there will be a collapse of the hospital system due to the increase in the number of hospitalized patients whose symptoms total more than 27,000 and the more serious 3,256 intubated in intensive care rooms.

The only ultimate weapon to defeat the virus it’s a mass vaccination Population. Hope is now added that monoclonal antibodies will prove effective as a curative drug.

Rome, correspondent

ap