Covid-19: Science or representation?

A very technical event, for experienced staff, the one with Prof. Giorgio Palù, president of the Italian Drug Agency (AIFA), who reviewed how the SARS-COV2 virus evolved, the impact on pathogenesis, how the virus causes the disease, what is the key role of vaccines, prevention and new drugs available. A lectio that has restored relevance and dignity to virology, one of the major sciences awarded with Nobel prizes but unfortunately trivialized in the past two years in television talk shows, where everyone suddenly improvised as an expert in the field.

Dr. Ioppi, president of the Order of Doctors of Trento, sadly recalled how the pandemic has been accompanied by the infodemic, that is to say the excess of information made by the media inappropriately and often even incorrectly that has created anxiety, anguish and insecurity in the population already tested by an uncertain and unprecedented context. Now we have to deal with the psychological fatigue affecting many people, not only the fragile ones but also adults who have developed a sense of aversion towards vaccines precisely because of the excess of disinformation that events like this try to counteract.

But as with the plague of the 1600s, the hope is that the Covid-19 pandemic will bring about a real change in society, stimulating the debate on science and its representation. According to the president of the Fondazione Bruno Kessler Francesco Profumo, it is necessary to think on the long term, not only about the present but also about tomorrow, as vaccines have shown together with the need to invest in prevention and long-term scientific projects, as well as, as always, on education.