Every morning in Africa, as the sun rises, a gazelle wakes up and knows it will have to outrun the lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, as the sun rises, a lion wakes up and knows it will have to outrun the gazelle or it will starve. Every morning in Africa, as the sun rises, it doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle, the important thing is that you start running. According to some, this is an old African proverb; according to others, a quote from a 1974 book by Ethiopian journalist and writer Abe Gubenga. Who knows what the truth is. Today, probably, this phrase would be used to tell the daily race between no vax and scientists. The former spend their time creating hoaxes about vaccines and spreading them; the latter, in addition to studying, must also worry about denying them.

Recently the ISS (Higher Institute of Health) published a vademecum to try to refute the non vax nonsense. Will it be of any use? Maybe. Still, it's worth a try.

1) The vaccines were produced too quickly and the short- and long-term effects are unknown.

For the vaccine against SarCov-2, exactly as has always happened for all drugs, the experts of the Higher Institute of Health explain, authorization studies are carried out on tens of thousands of people. Once in use, agencies collect any reports of adverse effects temporally related to vaccination. If any of these effects did not occur during the experimental phase, a thorough investigation is made to verify the causal relationship with the vaccine. If this happens, the "new" adverse effect is indicated in the "leaflet". This is the phase called "post marketing pharmacovigilance".

2) The vaccines in circulation are experimental.

A definition, explains the ISS, is already wrong on its own: only those drugs for which marketing authorization has not yet arrived are experimental. As for Covid-19 vaccines, the authorization has come a long time ago. Not only that: recently the FDA, the US government agency that monitors, among other things, drugs, gave the Pfizer vaccine a "normal" authorization after initially being granted emergency use.

3) Vaccines cause Covid-19.

Impossible since none of the vaccines use the live, infecting virus. Both those with mRNA technology (Pfizer and Moderna) and those with viral vector (Astrazeneca and Johnson & Johnson) introduce instructions into the body to produce fragments of the protein that the virsu uses to hook the cell.

4) The vaccinated are contagious.

The discovery of hot water, the ISS experts would be almost tempted to answer. No vaccine is one hundred percent effective: not surprisingly, the expression "vaccination failure" was coined in the past. Those against the coronavirus are far more effective than many others in percentage terms. Not only that: complete immunization comes only after at least a week from the completion of the cycle. Data from countries with an advanced vaccination campaign, including Italy, again explain the scientists of the Higher Institute of Health, have shown that the vaccine protects against the worst consequences of the disease, from hospitalization to death, more than 9 people every 10 vaccinated. Vaccination also reduces the ability of vaccinated to infect.

5) They hide side effects and deaths after the vaccine.

Pharmacovigilance data are public: in Italy the Aifa (Italian Medicines Agency) periodically publishes reports of suspected adverse events.

6) The vaccine causes thrombosis and myocarditis.

All drugs, the ISS explains, can have side effects. In fact, in very rare cases, these side effects (moreover, also present in the infection) can occur. But they are very rare, the benefit-risk ratio is all in favor of vaccination.

7) The manufacturers do not trust and do sign the consent to free themselves from any liability.

Vaccination is a medical act, the scientists explain, and therefore requires the signing of an informed consent to be sure that the vaccinating person understands the related benefits and risks.

8) There is no point in vaccinating young people under 20 because the disease is not serious for them.

In general, the effects are less severe. But, from the start of the pandemic to July 17, there have been 28 deaths in the 0-20 year range. The vaccination of the youngest, however, serves to limit the circulation of the virus in the population and, therefore, protects the weakest subjects.

9) As Salvini also said, vaccines bring out new variants.

Variants emerge because the virus, by replicating itself, tends to develop new mutations. Vaccines, by reducing circulation, therefore limit the possibility of the virus mutating. The variants in circulation at the moment, including the Delta, were observed for the first time last December, when vaccination campaigns had still begun in very few countries.

10) Wrong to vaccinate in the summer, since the virus disappears.

In the summer, it is true, by staying more outdoors, the transmission of the virus slows down. But the coronavirus does not disappear, so it is essential to continue the vaccination campaign.

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