Background: The worldwide escalation of Coronavirus Disease 2019
(COVID-19) has urgently required the development of safe and effective
vaccines against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
(SARS-CoV-2), which is the causative agent of disease. The BNT162b2
(Pfizer–BioNTech) RNA-based vaccine confers 95% protection against
COVID-19 by encoding a mutated isoform of SARS-CoV-2 full-length spike
(S) protein. Objective: Here, we report the antigen-specific immune
profile against SARS-CoV-2 S protein after vaccination with a single
dose of BNT162b2 in order to define the immunological landscape required
for an efficient response to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. Methods: We
determined the levels of antibodies and antigen-specific B, T and NK-T
cells against a recombinant GFP tagged SARS-CoV-2 S protein in subjects
up to 20 days after injection of a single dose of BNT162b2 vaccine using
a combined approach involving serological assays and flow cytometry
analyses. Former COVID-19 patients have been also included in this study
to evaluate the effect of vaccine after exposition to SARS-CoV-2.
Results: The level of antigen-specific helper T-cells against SARS-CoV-2
S protein was reduced in subjects, low responsive or unresponsive to
vaccination with respect to the highly responsive individuals, while the
numbers of antigen-specific regulatory and cytotoxic T-cells were
comparable. Of interest, in former COVID-19 patients, a single dose of
BNT162b2 vaccine induced a significant increase of antibody production
simultaneous with an antigen-specific B and NK-T cell response.
Conclusion: Taken together, these results suggest that favorable immune
profiles support the progression and an effective reaction to BNT162b2
vaccination.
In Svizzera, il Ticino e stato uno dei Cantoni piu colpiti dalla pandemia Covid-19 e la riconfigurazione del suo sistema ospedaliero si e incentrata sulla creazione di centri-Covid. Il presente contributo analizza come l'Ospedale di Locarno "La Carita`" (ODL), dichiarato centro-Covid di riferimento a livello cantonale a meta marzo, si sia riorganizzato assumendo un ruolo attivo centrale nella risposta del sistema ospedaliero ticinese. L'analisi, basata su interviste semistrutturate rivolte a sei figure manageriali chiave dell'ospedale, ha fatto luce sui fattori che maggiormente hanno contribuito al successo della risposta all'emergenza. L'analisi del caso di studio suggerisce che hanno giocato un ruolo importante: il modello di ospedale multisito EOC, l'agile e coordinata struttura a livello istituzionale e operativo (garante sia di unita di comando sia di adeguata flessibilita), la cooperazione pubblico-privato in un contesto di network governance, la logica manageriale del learning by doing e la propensione all'innovazione in ambito manageriale e operativo.
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